Castle proves his class in Reading

EX-PROFESSIONAL Billy Castle was last man standing at the end of a day’s play in Reading that was described as a “crazily high” standard.

The 33-year-old took advantage of home tables at The Crucible Sports and Social Club to win the fifth leg of the Cuestars Championship Tour.

He pocketed £250 after beating runaway rankings leader Mark Lloyd 3-0 in the final.

Cuestars director John Hunter said: “The standard was crazily high. There were five centuries, which were mainly made on tables with match pockets.

“Billy played amazing, given the tough draw he had.”

Castle, who lost just two frames out of 17 throughout the day, put together runs of 128 and 115. Neil Craycraft contributed 111 and 109. And Peter Devlin made a 107. There were 36 breaks of 50 or more recorded.

Marcos Dayao got in on the act with breaks of 89, 71, 67 and 53 en route to winning the Plate competition. He beat Sean Reeves 2-0 in the final.

Lloyd leads second-placed Labeeb Ahmed, who lost in the last-four, by a massive 45 points. James Budd is one point further back in third place.

A total of 77 different players have competed in the first five legs.

Organisers thanked Crucible manager Jasmine and her staff who looked after them so well.

Results and rankings list are on snookerscores.net at https://snookerscores.net/events/cuestars-championship-tour-event-5.

The Crucible Sports and Social Club, Newbury, hosts the sixth leg of eight on Sunday, February 8.

Prize money: winner Billy Castle £250, runner-up Mark Lloyd £125, semi-finalists Labeeb Ahmed & Ronnie Blake £60 each, Plate winner Marcos Dayao £35, Plate runner-up Sean Reeves £15.