This year’s Idris Ramdin Trophy in the Carlisle and District Snooker League was a highly anticipated match between two worthy finalists.
Mike Griffiths had been the winner of the last four stagings of this competition while Mally Lancaster, was a two-times Brisco champion and county singles runner-up.
A healthy audience saw a nervy start to the opening frames, with both players exchanging breaks of eight and 16.
Coming to the table with four reds left and seven points in arrears, Griffiths fired in a 48 clearance to take the first frame.
The second frame saw some excellent play from Lancaster, and a 47 point lead was established with five reds remaining. Griffiths potted all the reds with various colours, and sunk the yellow with the rest, but an unfortunate flick on the blue ruined position on the green.
After a few safeties, Lancaster stayed cool and calm to sink the final few colours for a 67-47 frame score.
The decider was looked like going Griffiths’ way as a 34 break along the way built a 47-1 point lead, after Lancaster missed the green and left a chance.
A break of 12 saw Griffiths extend the lead to 58, with 59 remaining on the table but then Lancaster showed why he is regarded as one of the very best to ever play in the Carlisle league.
He sunk the remaining four reds with blacks, and potted all the colours to secure the victory by one point in a gripping decider.
Congratulations then to Mally Lancaster for a terrific comeback victory.
The three major team prizes this year will all be shared between the Qzone or the Rock with the two teams being streets ahead of the rest this season.
They met in the final of the Downie Fours (sponsored by Treewise Solutions) and it produced a 3-0 win for the Qzone quartet.
The first frame saw Qzone take an early advantage, with the pairing of Paul Corbishley and Ian Pattinson defeating Neil Armstrong and Paul Cowing 63-29.
The same Qzone pairing extended their lead with a 74-28 win over Mally Lancaster and Mark Ballantyne, and the title was secured with Paul Wright and Giles Finneghan winning by 70-22.
In Division One the featured match was the Qzone derby between Qzone and Inter Qzone, with the former needing to win to seal the league title with a week to spare.
It started well for Qzone, with the battle of the number two’s going to Giles Finneghan, defeating Inter’s captain Peter Stanyer 69-23.
Parity was restored when Mike Griffiths defeated Paul Wright 76-30, and Inter Qzone forged a lead when rising star Ryan Ridding saw off Paul Corbishley 51-27.
Chris Forrester equalized for the home team with a 65-9 victory over Mike Waring, setting up a tense final frame, where Brisco finalist Ian Pattinson faced off against billiards specialist, and world ranked number 191, David Midgley.
Midgley played extremely well in winning the frame 51-27, to keep the league title alive going into the final game of the season, and all but sealing third place for his team. Final score – Qzone 2, Inter Qzone 5.
The two title contenders face off against each other on Tuesday June 20 at Qzone, 7.30pm.
Other scores were: Rock 5, Cons A 1; Qzone Originals 4, Rock A 2; Longtown 4, Annan 2; Denton Holme 2, Buffs A 5.
In Division Two the featured match saw St Margaret Mary’s visit Buffs B and they came away with a 5-2 win.
The frame between the two number one’s was one involving players who could both easily hold their own in the top flight, Maggie’s Tony Fisher edged out Mike Doherty 42-66.
Ian Cleminson’s 20 break helped him to a 35-20 victory over Peter Dean, and Trevor Pattinson sealed the win for the away side with a 51-36 success over Buffs Chris Bray.
Brian Makepeace showed his class in pulling a frame back for the home side, defeating Ian Troughear 54-40 on the final black, and John Greenland played his best frame of the season, a 62-0 win to show his dominance over Lol Waters.
Other scores: Southend C 5, Ex C 1; Southend 6, Penrith 0; Cons 4, Southend D 2.
Congratulations to Eastriggs and Ex C on securing promotion to Division One. The two teams play each other next week to decide the title winners.
