In the Carlisle and District Snooker League there was going to be a new couple of names on the Earnest Jones Pairs trophy this year.
Both finalists, Mally Lancaster and Paul Cowing who were pairing off against Rob Woods and Carl Davidson, had never won the competition before.
The match was a three frame aggregate score affair, and it started with the Lancaster and Cowing duo taking control and establishing a 75 point lead after the first frame.
Their dominance continued into the second frame, again won by 75 points, meaning the Rock pair were 150 points ahead going into the final frame.
The Cons couple didn’t give up without a fight as Woods knocked in an excellent 46 break, only missing when trying to force the black in at pace to get onto a red.
But Lancaster and Cowing potted the balls needed to fend off their opponents to claim their maiden title.
The Merit competition is for the players who won the most games from their team over the course of the season, and the league runs a billiards merit and a snooker merit on the same night.
Very healthy fields of sixteen for the billiards nd eighteen for the snooker saw a very busy Qzone, with six tables being used concurrently.
In the billiards merit, there were first round wins for Buffs A’s Brian Sloan, Rock A’s Paul Scott, Longtown’s Tony Steele, Inter Qzone’s Dave Midgley, Buffs B player Brian Makepeace, Denton Holme’s Nigel Lewthwaite, Buffs B’s Chris Bray and Ex B’s Mark ‘Titch’ Beattie.
The quarter final saw some excellent stuff played, with Midgley hitting a 46 break during his victory, and he was joined in the semi-final by Lewthwaite, Beattie and Sloan. Indeed the latter was in particularly fine form with a string of 30+ breaks.
In the first semi-final, a tight and high quality match saw the in-form Sloan seal a tense victory over Midgley. The second semi-final and the final will be played on Tuesday at Qzone.
The snooker merit had two preliminary matches, with John Yeomans and Brian Makepeace emerging. The first round saw victories for 100% man Giles Finneghan (Qzone), Danny Penrose (Ex B), Mike Griffiths (Inter Qzone), Paul Cowing (Rock A), Trevor Pattinson (Maggies), Lindsay Currie (Annan), Brian Makepeace (Buffs B), and Tony Desborough (Denton Holme).
Some high quality quarter finals saw Cowing (40 break), Desborough, Finneghan and Currie progress to the semi-finals.
In two close semi-finals, Cowing came through against Desborough, and Finneghan pulled back a large deficit to get the best of Currie. They will meet in the final to be played next Tuesday during the presentation night.
