First Cuestars win for Matt Callow

MATT Callow beat serial winner Dharminder Singh Lilly to claim his first success on the Cuestars Seniors (40+) tour.

The Midhurst cueist triumphed in the second leg at The Crucible Sports & Social Club, Reading.

The large turnout of 38 meant a late finish so the finalists agreed to split the £300 prize pot and play one frame for the ranking points.

Callow opened with a break of 34. Lilly responded with a 54. And Callow wrapped things up with a 31 clearance to the pink.

Lilly had won nine of the ten Seniors events he had entered prior to the trip to Berkshire.

Callow was consistent and played solidly all day. Breaks of 68 and 58 in the group stages were followed by knockout wins against Kevin Palmer, Lun Lee and Kashan Muthy.

The match of the day was the all-Bournemouth quarter-final between Jason Pusser and Paul Davis on the 900 TV table. Both relished the opportunity, both scored well and both played excellent safety on this very quick table. Pusser got over the line to win a very close contest 2-1.

A special mention for Chandler’s Ford-based Steve Read who made the knockout stages for the first time at his 31st attempt since his debut in 2021. Taking a valuable frame off the in-form Callow was the key to Read’s qualification.

Lilly posted the day’s highest break of 69 in his quarter-final victory over Neil Herd.

It was good to see a few new faces. There was a notable run to the last-16 by World Seniors player Garoid O’Connor. And it was an impressive debut by Muthy who topped his round-robin group and claimed 2-1 knockout victories over Gary Coulson and Mark Evans before losing 2-0 to Callow in the last-four.

This was the first time the Seniors Tour had visited the home of the 900 and Stephen Hendry’s Cue Tips YouTube channel. All the players were extremely complimentary of the playing conditions and the food offerings.

Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, hosts the third leg of eight on Sunday, November 30.

All results are now on snookerscores.net.

PRIZE MONEY: Winner and runner-up £150 each, semi-finalists £45, quarter-finalists £20.

By Chris Wyatt and Tim Dunkley