Fourth title for Workington’s Kevin Basnett

County champion for the fourth time Kevin Basnett

Workington’s Kevin Basnett claimed his fourth Cumbria County Snooker Singles title after a thrilling 4-3 final win over six time former champion in Carlisle’s Mike Nixon.

Basnett, the 2013, 2015 and 2017 champion, perfectly executed a fantastic all round game plan throughout the day in a what turned out to be a late-night triumph in the Peter Tyson Audio & Visual sponsored event held at Carlisle’s Qzone.

The final proved to be an extremely tight affair but with Basnett demonstrating a dogged determination via his ‘never give in’ attitude the Workington cueist entered fourth place, alongside Wilf Sanderson and John Maughan, on the all-time county singles champions list behind Mike Nixon (6), Penrith’s John Airey (6) and Whitehaven’s Rob Sim (5) in a competition that goes back to 1956.

The final begun cautiously but with Nixon in with a break of 46 the Carlisle cueist settled in nicely. Basnett, however, managed to craft an opportunity and on a break of 54 the Workington player looked to be clearing for the win.

An uncharacteristic miss on the green led to an opportunity for Nixon and in seizing it immediately the six time champion cleared to take the frame 69-54 for a 1-0 lead.

Frame two started with a break of 30 from Basnett and with a couple of reds and colours to follow a near 50 point had been fashioned.

Nixon was not lying down, however, and with a break of 44 he was back in the frame. With a 2-0 deficit looming a slice of the Workington cueists tactical reserves was required if Basnett was to avoid the worst.

Picking the balls off he required Basnett slowly built-up a winning margin and with a 69-44 victory parity at 1-1 was achieved.

The next saw Nixon in right from the off and with three reds and high value colours the Carlisle player was 20 points in front.

Before Basnett had time to think Nixon was soon in amongst the balls again and with a superbly crafted break of 63 the frame was over for a 92-8 victory and a 2-1 match lead.

Two early contributions from Nixon in frame four allowed the six-time champion to get a 30-plus points lead but more importantly a huge slice of momentum, especially on the back of a thumping frame three win.

However, showing huge heart, Basnett chipped away and with the colours remaining the former winner was just a point behind. Potting a good yellow followed by, green, brown and blue Nixon conceded as Basnett made it 2-2 with a 68-55 win.

Frame five saw a tactical start drag the balls into difficult positions with neither player able to string anything sizable together.

Again drawing on all his experience Basnett slowly built up a small lead and with balls not favouring any sort of comeback Nixon was unable to gain any rhythm.

As the colours remained Nixon needed snookers and even though the Carlisle player produced a series of excellent efforts Basnett went on to win a low scoring encounter 52-19 for a 3-2 lead.

An early 30-point lead for Basnett in frame six applied a massive amount of pressure on Nixon but the former champion hadn’t won the title six times without proving what a brilliant player under pressure he is.

Two visits later and Nixon was just 13 behind with one red remaining. Next up a simply superb pot on the last red led to a visit up to the blue and with both blue and pink soon to follow Nixon secured a decider at 3-3 with a brilliant 56-45 victory.

Now into the morning both players looked tired but with a fourth title for Basnett or a possible record seventh triumph for Nixon on the line neither player was going to give anything away.

Inevitably safety proved to be the order of the day but in keeping his nose in front Nixon held the advantage.

Then three reds and colours may not seem significant in normal circumstances but in grabbing a further three reds with small value colours to follow Basnett was 18 in front with one red remaining.

An excellent snooker by Nixon yielded four points and as Basnett left a pot on the last red Nixon was in. Trying to gain position Nixon rattled the red with the rest and even though Basnett only potted red, yellow, yellow and green Nixon could only draw at 22 behind with the brown left.

A couple of shots later and Basnett created the chance he was looking for and was in, potting brown and blue before Nixon graciously offered his hand as Basnett took the longest frame of match 61-30 for a hard fought fourth county singles title.

In the first of the semi finals Basnett looked down and out at 3-1 down and trailing by 30 points to last year’s champion Andy Milliard but with some superb safety coupled with a series pressure pots the former champion managed to get over the line 4-3.

The second of the two semi finals matched up Nixon against 2019 champion Kevin Kirkham. Even though Kirkham delivered some fine potting the Flimby cueist came up against Nixon at the peak of his powers as the Carlisle player ran out a comfortable 4-0 winner.

The highest break of the day went to the current county doubles champion Kirkham with a quite brilliant contribution of 93 in his first round 4-1 win over former county doubles champion Andrew Mitchelhill.

A plate competition also took place for all players who exited the main event in their first match with Kirkham’s county doubles winning partner, Workington’s Peter O’Hagan, winning with a 3-0 victory over fellow Workingtonian Mark Tunstall.

Thanks were offered to Peter Tyson Audio and Visual for sponsoring the event and to Martyn Gowing of the QZone, Carlisle for providing support to the event and ensuring the tables were of the highest standard possible.