Teams in the Telford Snooker League took a break from their usual league fixtures as the first round of the Team Knockout competition commenced last week with three Anstice teams progressing through to the second round in some style.

League leaders Anstice A accounted for fellow first division rivals Shifnal A whilst the Madeley club's B and C teams narrowly edged out Wellington Billiard Hall E and Shifnal D respectively.

League new boy Angus way led the way for Shifnal as they entertained the current first division table-toppers. Angus took the opening frame by just two points against Shaun Harris but there was nothing the rest of his team could do as Neil Price put the visitors in the driving seat with a 78-23 defeat of Andy Easthope and Keith Price followed up with a 61-33 win over Roy Martin.

Ian Duffy took the next frame too for the Anstice against Linsay Knox leaving Noel Stones to complete a good night's work for the Madeley side who clearly have their eyes set on a possible league and cup double.

Wellington Billiard Hall E join Shifnal in the first round of the consolation cup - for losers of the first round proper after they fell by the wayside away to second division Anstice B.

The home side received a 60 point start on their opponents who gained promotion to division one last season and although Ray Evans took the opening frame for the Billiard Hall - by five points against Mick Cahill the Anstice rallied superbly to eventually take the match by 31 points overall.

George Hammond's single point victory over A Ali was followed by Phil Whitby's 74-28 triumph for the Billiard Hall over Billy Watson.

John Darrock produced a hero's performance in frame four though to pull his side right back into the frame and although M Shadab won the fifth frame 50-39 against Stew Wimbush it wasn't enough to deprive the Madeley side of their place in round two.

Anstice C also made light of Shifnal D's 30 point start in an all third division clash which saw Darren Wilkie take the first frame for the Madeley side against Terry Askew by just two points.

The next frame was also settled on the black with Mick Guest sneaking home 55-50 against Colin Westwood but the Anstice took the next two frames through Steve Camp and Jason Mills to leave John Smith in pole position going into the last frame against Barrie Easthope.

And although the Shifnal captain did his best, his 42-33 final frame victory left his side some 26 points short overall, and places them into the hat for the Consolation Cup along with Bayley A who tamely went out of the competition at the first hurdle at home to Minnesota Fats A.

Although Steve Fletcher built on the home side's 30 start by taking the opening frame against Steve Collins, the visitors showed why they currently occupy fourth spot in the top division with some assured potting from Keith Blackham and Paul Devey - who got the better of Bob Mason and Dennis Fletcher respectively.

Steve Osborne's 32 break against Arthur Burrows put the result beyond doubt as Chris Morgan-Adams found himself trying to pull back some 96 points against Jon Wright in the last.

Chris's 62-34 victory proved to be too little too late as the Canongate side booked their place in the second round without too much fuss.

Bayley E fared somewhat better than their A team when they left Maddocks A with an excellent 284 to 235 overall points victory.

Andy O'Brien gave the second division outfit the lead with a 29 break in his 61-58 win over Mark Finucane.

Steve Hoof kept the visitors in control with as fine 59-18 success over Ian Skelton and although Darren Wincott took the next for Maddocks against David France, his black ball win was cancelled out by John Squire's 58-53 defeat of Leigh France in the next.

And with Ali Jones claiming the final frame with a 52-43 win over Maddocks captain Dave France the visitors booked their place in the next round with a good all round team display.

Coddon B were another second division outfit to see off first division opposition when they came away with a well deserved win over Dawley Social.

Bob Dando was in the groove early on with a 66-42 success over Barry Roden and the Donnington side went further ahead when Mark Wall took the next frame on the black to deny Chris Woods.

Andy Jones continued the trend with a 72-55 win over Rick Bailey and, after Steve Downs had taken the next 84-34 against Pete Nolan, the home side rallied somewhat with Mark Jones taking the last 65-17 against Phil Szklarzewicz - only for the overall points tally to overwhelmingly point in favour of the Donnington side.

Wellington Billiard Hall A booked their place in the second round with victory at home to Maddocks C.

Jim Hill was in fine form for the second division side as he took the opening frame 68-44 against Graham Darrell to add to his side's 80 point handicap start. And things continued to go their way when Dave Thomas won the second frame too against Mick Hughes.

But the Billiard Hall produced a brilliant comeback - led by Steve Minshall who took the next 73-36 against Graham Hoof. That left Alan Turner and Andrew Kendrick to pull back the rest of the deficit with super displays against Billy Rushton and Joe Oliver respectively - to leave the Wellington side victorious by 24 points overall.

Wellington Billiard Hall C join their A team in the next round after a good win over the in-form Broseley A.

And what a result this turned out to be for the second division side as their captain John Rawlins added to their 120 point start with a brilliant 58-52 success over Richie Hulme.

Tim Hicks pulled some of that deficit back with a fine performance against Aaron O'Donnell but Wayne Weeks' 49-37 win over John Shepherd put the home side back in the driving seat.

And although Paul Humphries took the next against Alex Turnbull, Ian Eldridge's 62-44 final frame win over Mick Brezwyn saw the Billiard Hall side safely through.

Wellington Billiard Hall B were not quite so fortunate however as they lost out by just six points to Minnesota Fats B.

Rob Palin gave the visitors the perfect start with a good opening frame victory over Ken Francis. Mick Pearson followed suit by taking the next by 30 points from Allen Francis only for the Wellington side to reply through Iain Atkinson's 57-38 defeat of Mick Egan.

A superb 40 break secured the next frame too for the Billiard Hall as Kevin Whitehead came out on top against Kirk Stevenson but his 93-44 win was in the end not quite enough as Roy Francis claimed the final frame 47-39 against Neil Pearson - leaving the Canongate side victorious by an aggregate of just six points.

Little Dawley A were another first division side to fall by the wayside as Minnesota Fats C made good use of their 100 point start to move into the second round by a total of 379 points to 321.

Ade Henry gave Little Dawley the start they were looking for when he took the opening frame 58-34 from Neil Robinson.

Colin Gittus continued to claw back the deficit with a 57-21 defeat of Toby Welsh and although Jesse Lowe won the next frame too on the black against Tom Firmstone, a great 67-42 win for Mike Thompson over home captain Rick Cousins left Darren Pountney with it all to do in the last.

And although Darren took the frame by 39 points to 35, Dave Welsh's stubborn resistance paid off for the visitors as they took the match by 58 points.

Little Dawley G did progress to the next round though on the back of an excellent win over fellow division two side Shifnal E.

Graham Copson's 71-46 win over Aaron Sparkes set them on their way and although Jeff Sparkes made amends for the visitors with a 58-39 defeat of Pete Frost the home side went back in front courtesy of a close 49-41 win for Chris Leneveu over Ray Edmunds.

D Leneveu's 70-46 success over Chris Petford kept the home side in the driving seat so that Ray Leneveu could complete their victory with a 53-20 final frame victory over Rob Wright.

Little Dawley's B side also made it to round two with a comfortable win over Coddon C.

The visitors used their 90 point start wisely with Don Bayliss only making slight headway with a 73-66 opening frame victory over Gary Clemence.

Frazer MacKinnon took the next frame for Coddon too with a 47-32 win over Rob Barlow and the home side continued to dent Little Dawley's lead when Matt Bothwell beat Steve Ward 57-38.

However the home side hadn't reckoned on Phil Cottey - who was in inspired form for Little Dawley as he took the fourth frame by 72 points to 27 against Sef Tusel to leave the visitors firmly in control.

And despite Ray Whitehead's final frame win over Snowy Darrock it was the visitors who made it through safely to the next round.

Darren Weston played a big part in Coddon A's success over third division Wellington Billiard Hall F as he notched a run of 51 on the way to victory over Rob Cook.

Ian Ferriday had earlier taken the first frame with a 80-44 win over Chris Durham and although Chris Fletcher produced a fine performance to defeat Adrian Smith 66-60 the home side took the last two frames through Terry Brenthall and Dave Lloyd to complete an aggregate points win of 375 to 348.

Bayley C played host to rivals Bayley D, and received a thorough lesson in "Cup" snooker.

Belying their poor standing in Division 3 the D team romped to an emphatic victory, taking all 5 frames with every D team player fully deserving their respective wins.

Skipper Darren Rhoades must wonder what happens to his side when they pull on their Cup jersey's, but in this form a return to the final this season must be on the cards.

With the handicap not giving either team an advantage, usual anchorman Dave Dudley got the D team off to a perfect start taking 59 points from his frame with Mark Taras, who was somewhat unlucky with a number of unfortunate in-offs.

Darren Rhoades then extended that lead to 96 points by beating Chris Haycox in a frame which included a clearance of the colours.

Dave Williams was not going allow the D team advantage to slip ahead of Brian Aberdeen's clash with Craig Whitehead, and with his own 48 point win over Craig Johnson, he and his team had already wrapped up the match, when Brian totally out-pointed his opponent, with a great performance over the John Bethell trophy holder.

Steve Lane concluded a great night for the D team when he saw off Jim Lewis to give his side a landslide victory and a final margin of exactly 200 points.

Little Dawley C made the trip to Shifnal F with just 10 points in hand and were well pleased that Mike King increased this to 32 by beating Wally Harper 53-31.

A 24 break by Shifnal's Chris Painter looked set to reduce the deficit but Byron Mitchell then made a 27 yellow to black clearance to add another 5 points advantage but that's where the plus's stopped for the visitors as Islander skipper Nev Whitehead was in fine form as he reversed the scoreline to a 37 advantage with a fine win over Lee Drinkwater.

Lee Allcock managed to retrieve 5 points for Little Dawley by pipping Spencer Rowley on the black 57-53 to leave Dave Peplow to secure Shifnal's victory with a 94-47 win over Steve Farrington.

BRITISH OPEN FINAL

Paul Hunter won the "Battle of the Roses" when he defeated Preston's Ian McCulloch 9-4 in the final of the British Open Snooker Championships at the Telford Exhibition Centre on Sunday.

Hunter, from Leeds led 6-2 after the morning session and soon increased that lead as a break of 93 secured frame nine in front of a packed audience eager to see two of the world's top players in action in the best of seventeen frames final.

McCulloch, playing in his first ever ranking final, was not overawed however and a superb long pot precipitated a total clearance of 135 in the next frame to reduce the deficit back to three frames.

However a missed pink proved costly in the next as Hunter moved to within one frame of the title with a run of 58 only for McCulloch to respond with a frame winning 79 in the next.

The world number 43 had enjoyed his best ever tournament with victories over two former world champions on his way to reaching the final.

Having accounted for the holder John Higgins 5-2 in the quarter-finals, McCulloch played some of his best snooker on the way to defeating former World number one Mark William 6-3 in the semis whilst Hunter had knocked out Ronnie O'Sullivan before beating LG cup winner Chris Small in the semi-final.

But it was Hunter who lifted the trophy and with it a winners cheque for £52,000 as he clinched the final frame with a 39 break to add the British Open title to his two previous ranking event wins in the Regal Welsh in 1998 and 2002.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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