My Billiards Year: EBOS British Open Bradford

Saturday 5th December
Off the Bradford only 30 miles which is a really nice change, means no Hotel and I can get home at night. Arrived just time the competition was as usual bang on time, slight change to the groups Brian Watson was moved to another group to even out the numbers as someone had dropped out.

My first game was Geoff Brassington, we had played before and I managed to keep up with him for about the first half hour, the table was very poor lots of kicks and although the cushions were springy the cloth was rubbish. Geoff only beat me by 100 points and and I managed a 31 break. It shows how poor the game was as he did not get a single 50+ break which is not like Geoff.

My next game was against Robert McCrum, I knew very little about him he is one of the Irish players and has played in some of the International games. He has the oddest cue action but seems to pot and play reasonably well. I played quite well and got about 35 in front. but with about 15 minutes to go he knocked in a 38 and a 26 to beat me by only a few points. I was unfinished on 10 when the bell rang. He has been playing for about 3 years but we are fairly equal. I feel a little disappointed as the longer the game went on the better I was playing.

I refereed Martin Goodwill and Norman Whaley. Martin won an easy victory and played reasonably well, he had a few breaks over 50 but nothing massive. He plays so well with a nice touch, he played some lovely little cannons around the black spot to regain TOTT.

I played Rob Hall next he is far to good for me I hardly had a shot he had a 153 and was unlucky as my ball just fell into the middle pocket. If it had stayed there I am sure he would have made an even bigger break. He plays really softly and has great feel and touch. He can also pot like a demon. Quite interesting when he gets to the top. he holds position quite well and plays lots of Reverse top (easy top) which he feels gives you more options for when you run out of position. I only score around 60 points although I did get a 25 when he missed at the top.

Sunday 6th December

Playing Phil Davis first thing this morning. We had an interesting game I played better than I did against him in Austria. It was all even at the half hour point, but his skill and experience began to show and he knocked in a couple of fairly quick 30 breaks. The table which I think Phil would agree was even worse than the other one I played on first. The cloth being very worn out and in desperate need off stretching. Phil won by a fair margin but I missed a simple red off it's spot on 35 which was my only decent break. Phil beating me put him into the quarters which was a great result as he has also defeated inform Geoff Brassington.

I managed to watch quite a bit of the action on various tables Mark Hurst was playing really well getting a couple of 200 breaks. David Causier seemed to be on fine form knocking in a 400 and loads of other breaks. Billy Bousfield had a 200 and I spotted Chris Taylor knocking in a few 150's.

Then there was Mike Russell he is head and shoulders above everyone else. He knocks in 100's likes most people knock in 30's. He can pot like a snooker pro but has the most wonderful touch around the spot. he simply has no bad points to his game. He probably just has the wrong attitude to the game like Ronnie O'sullivan. He knocked in massive breaks all weekend including a massive 794 missing a fairly easy loser in the middle. I had my camera ready for his last 100 points as it is £ 1000 for a 1000 break. Simple staggering he is clearly the best player around by a massive margin.

I drew CW Steiner in the plate. It was a tough game but I played quite well getting my standard shots quite well I also managed to get to the top a couple of times no breaks but a little 25. CW played badly he missed some really easy pots which I would have expected him to get. But he is such a nice chap turning up for all these competitions he is a tribute to Austria and the game.

I drew Michael White in the next round a bit of a tough one that as he is a very good player. I managed to keep with him all the way through the game he then got going and was 40 ahead. I ran in a quick 30 missing in in off where my ball just stuck on the edge of the pocket which put me level with about 3 minutes to go. He managed to get a quick 12 and kept me safe which won him the game.
I was very please to stay with him and to only miss out by a few points as he is a 100break man.

As the venue was local I managed to stay right to the end. The semis were good Martin Goodwill did well to come back in his game with Causier but who had a 400 break. But just won in the end.

The final was incredible and each player played really well but Russell was just too good. I really enjoyed this event the standard was better than anything else I have seen even the other comp at Birmingham and at Leeds where all the Indian players were entered this was a much higher standard.

I also keep a record of shame for all those players who have lost to me in the string the list gets longer.

Geet Sethi
Rupesh Shah
Rob Hall
Chris Taylor

There are many more on the list but I seem to win more than I lose.

Left to Right. (Rob Hall, Liam Clark, Geoff Brassington)