The Telford Snooker League’s annual divisional individuals took place last week with the number of competitors showing a marked increase from recent seasons with some excellent snooker being played at the three venues.

A total of 39 players contested the first division tournament which was held at Wellington’s Sir John Bayley Club and the highlight of the early rounds was a superb 63 break from Anstice A captain Ian Duffy as he reached the quarter-finals by beating Maddocks’ Ian Skelton.

With so many competitors the competition was never likely to finish in one evening and so it proved with the event reaching only the quarter-finals stage – the remaining ties being played this week.

The second and third division events proved to be profitable for the Bayley’s players with no less than five Wellington lads reaching the last eight of the third division event played at Little Dawley Snooker Club.

A total of 31 turned up for the event and, with so many Bayley players in the quarter-finals, it was no surprise that all four semi-finalists hailed from the Wellington club.

Bayley D captain Darren Rhoades put aside his indifferent league form with a startling performance as he edged out last season’s winner Jim Lewis to book his place in the final where he will face another of his team-mates, Dave Dudley.

Dave took an early lead but then had to overcome some stubborn resistance to win his semi-final by potting the last three balls against Bayley E’s Andy Summers to reach the final which will also be played this week.

Last season’s runner-up, Chris Morgan-Adams, kept up the Bayley tradition as he produced some brilliant potting to reach the final of the Division 2 tournament.

The Billiard Hall’s Wayne Weeks had looked awesome early on but could only applaud his opponent as Chris coolly rattled in a delightful 52 clearance to claim his place in the final against Maddocks’ Nev Whitehead.

Having accounted for the holder Steve Fletcher in the quarter-finals, Coddon’s Phil Szklarzewicz was himself in fine form, but Nev showed that being ambidextrous and playing both right and left handed isn’t the only similarity between himself and Ronnie O’Sullivan as he put in a solid performance to reach the final – the date of which is yet to be determined.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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