Workington Veterans Club A team captain Kevin Basnett claimed his 10th L&L Property Contractors Snooker League Singles Handicap title with a 4-1 win over the B team’s Michael Walker.
Not only did Basnett add to his already impressive tally of singles titles but in taking the trophy he became the first player in league history to win the singles, doubles and trebles in the same season.
The match started in a swift fashion for Basnett (Scr) as three reds and colours clawed a good proportion of the handicap deficit back. A short safety exchange saw Walker (+28) leave Basnett a long red, and as the Vets A captain stroked it in a 36 break later proved to be enough for him to take the frame 78-39.
At 1-0, Basnett wiped Walker’s handicap start off in rapid time again as the Vets B player struggled to find any rhythm. Another decent mid range pot soon after put Basnett in among balls and with a break of 64 the Vets A captain won 91-28 with Walker failing to pot a ball.
The third frame saw a familiar pattern with Walker’s handicap advantage dwindling away early as Basnett piled on even more pressure.
In an attempt to force an opportunity Walker let Basnett in again and with the balls well placed the Vets A captain quickly made a break of 70. Walker carried on in order to gain some table time but with the damage already done Basnett went 3-0 up with a 100-47 victory.
After a short interval Walker came back looking refreshed, and with nothing to lose he started to pot some nice balls. This allowed the Vets B cueist to maintain his advantage and with the last four balls left he was 11 points to the good.
A great pot on the brown rapidly followed by equally good shots on the blue and pink put the frame out of Basnett’s reach as Walker won 65-39 to pull it back to 3-1.
Walker was now starting to look a lot more confident and as frame five progressed the Vets B player’s cue arm was moving into full flow. As the last red remained Walker had a small lead and as he cracked the red in, followed by a black with perfect position on the yellow, 3-2 looked a real possibility.
However, in over screwing the shot on the yellow, position on the green left Walker with a pot that was a lot more difficult than it should have been.
As the attempt on the green eluded Walker, Basnett picked up the pieces and in two visits the multiple and defending champion potted the last five balls, culminating with a superb long pot on the black, in a fitting end to an impressive performance to take the frame match and title with a 70-56 win.
