Woking winner Lancastle praises coach
BRISTOL teenager Thomas Lancastle paid tribute to top snooker coach Frank Adamson after clinching a first tournament win on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour.
Lancastle, who is based at Eastville Snooker Club, now leads the rankings after defeating Ben Tanner (Eastleigh) 3-1 in the final at Woking Snooker Centre.
“My coach, Frank Adamson, recently adjusted my game and this has helped me,” explained the 16-year-old.
“I felt relaxed and played well. (But) I feel that my break building needs to improve.”
And he added: “The club was very nice and the tables were lovely.”
Lancastle, still in his debut season on the Gold Tour, reckons his best performance of the day was fighting back from 2-1 down to see off Ollie Kendrick (Bournemouth) 3-2 in the last-four.
In the first leg last month in Salisbury, Kendrick beat Lancastle 2-0 in the final.
Meanwhile, much-improved Oliver Parsons (Swindon), who had never qualified for the knockout in his eight previous outings, lost 3-2 to Tanner in the semi-finals.
Lancastle did actually lose a match in the group stages. He went down 2-0 to Lee Bell (Southampton) but won his other four games.
The home club’s Reece Palmer posted a 52, the highest break of the day, on his Cuestars debut.
The third of the eight legs is at the Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, December 2.
BREAKS
Reece Palmer: 52.
GOLD RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Ben Tanner (Eastleigh WMC); 2nd, Thomas Lancastle (Eastville SC, Bristol); 3rd, Josh Lee (Jesters, Swindon); 4th, Lee Bell (Woolston Social Club); 5th, Sonnie O’Sullivan (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 6th, Sam Storey (Crucible, Newbury).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Ollie Kendrick (St James SC, Bournemouth); 2nd, Oliver Parsons (Jesters, Swindon); 3rd, Troy Bodman (Jesters, Swindon); 4th, Reece Palmer (Woking SC); 5th, Stuart Scott (Romford SC).
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Tanner beat Parsons 3-2, Lancastle beat Kendrick 3-2.
FINAL (25/18 points): Lancastle beat Tanner 3-1.
Clean sweep for East Sussex
EAST Sussex dominated the second leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour.
Remarkably, both finalists are based at the Hailsham Memorial Institute.
Daniel Carr motored to a 2-0 victory over Connor McLean at Woking Snooker Centre and is now joint top of the rankings with Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport).
Lloyd, winner at Salisbury last month, was beaten 2-0 by McLean in the last-four.
In the second semi, Carr chalked up a 2-1 victory over the home club’s Daniel Knox, who was runner-up in Salisbury.
It was Carr’s third Cuestars outing and a first tournament win. He reached the quarter-finals in Newbury in April and the semis at Salisbury.
In the quarter-finals, Karl Eggar (Stoke SC, Gosport), who actually beat Carr in the group stages, was knocked out 2-0 by McLean.
Eastleigh & District Under-18 champion Olly Clark (Chandler’s Ford SC) qualified for the knockout for the first time in his debut season on the Silver Tour. But the 13-year-old fell 2-0 to the eventual tournament winner.
James Budd, Stoke Snooker Club’s Champion of Champions, was beaten 2-0 by Knox.
And Daniel Hall (Jesters, Swindon) saw his hopes of a first semi-final appearance end with a 2-0 defeat by Lloyd.
The third of the eight legs is at the Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, December 2.
BREAKS
Connor McLean: 48.
Cameron Holt: 42.
Daniel Carr: 37, 36.
Mark Lloyd: 30.
SILVER RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Daniel Knox (Woking SC); 2nd, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Mike Trigg (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Anthony Church (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 5th, Austen Petty (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Daniel Carr (Hailsham Memorial Institute, East Sussex); 2nd, Karl Eggar (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Stewart Ball (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth); 4th, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Connor McLean (Hailsham Memorial Institute, East Sussex); 2nd, Olly Clark (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Jasmine Bolsover (Woking SC); 4th, Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Daniel Hall (Jesters, Swindon); 2nd, James Budd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth); 4th, Cameron Holt (Liberal Club, High Wycombe).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Knox beat Budd 2-0, Carr beat Clark 2-0, McLean beat Eggar 2-0, Lloyd beat Hall 2-0.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Carr beat Knox 2-1, McLean beat Lloyd 2-0.
FINAL (25/18 points): Carr beat McLean 2-0.
Flanagan hits the front
SWINDON potter Conor Flanagan went one better than last-month’s runners-up spot by recording his first tournament win on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour.
The Jesters Snooker Hall youngster is now top of the rankings after beating Canberk Benning 2-0 in the second leg final at Woking Snooker Centre.
Flanagan avenged his defeat by Daniel Compton (Copnor SC, Portsmouth) in the final at Salisbury, in October, by seeing off his title rival 2-0 in the semi-finals.
In fact, he did not drop a frame all day. Three group-stage wins were followed by a 2-0 victory over the home club’s Edward James in the last-eight.
A titanic safety battle in the second semi ended with victory for Cuestars debutant Benning over Bradley Lane (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).
The 13-year-old, who started playing at Swindon’s 147 Club 18 months ago, edged through 2-1.
Clive Benning, Canberk’s proud dad, described the deciding frame as “the highlight of the day”.
“Both boys battled to the end,” he said. “The points were very close when they went on to the colours and they both played safety shots not wanting to give the other the advantage. It was a very good match
“The yellow ball took at least twenty minutes!”
Meanwhile, you may remember Mickey Joyce (Crucible, Newbury) recently made a 51 in a practice match and spent his £20 reward on Lego. This was described as “a very wise choice” by The LEGO Group’s UK PR and Promotions Manager Emma Owen.
But nine-year-old Joyce couldn’t build on last month’s semi-final appearance and was beaten 2-1 on the final black in the quarter-finals by Lane.
Group C winner Thomas Holton couldn’t take advantage of home tables and his 2-0 last-eight defeat by Benning ended hopes of a first ever semi-final appearance.
And Cuestars debutant Jordan Lee, also based at Woking SC, was knocked out 2-0 by Compton at the same stage.
In the round-robin group stages, there was no birthday joy for Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club pair Jamie Wilson and Karan Chadda.
Wilson celebrated his ninth birthday and Chadda his 17th by being drawn together in the group of death that contained both finalists.
Chadda, who reached the quarter-finals on his debut in Salisbury, said: “I had a harder group this time.” Indeed.
And congratulations to Gosport’s Joe Kitchen who has won his first Cuestars match. It came in his second tournament against Ben Hatch.
The third of the eight legs is at the Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, December 2.
BREAKS
Kaine Petty: 23.
Alfie Beardall: 17.
BRONZE RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Daniel Compton (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 2nd, Mickey Joyce (Crucible, Newbury); 3rd, Kaine Petty (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Joe Kitchen (Stoke SC, Gosport); 5th, Ben Hatch (Eastleigh).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Conor Flanagan (Jesters, Swindon); 2nd, Canberk Benning (147 SC, Swindon); 3rd, Karan Chadda (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Jamie Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Thomas Holton (Woking SC); 2nd, Edward James (Woking SC); 3rd, Luke Beebe (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Ben Tillison (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Bradley Lane (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 2nd, Jordan Lee (Woking SC); 3rd, Alfie Beardall (Woking SC); 4th, Allistair Pollard (Salisbury SC).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Compton beat Lee 2-0, Flanagan beat James 2-0, Benning beat Holton 2-0, Lane beat Joyce 2-1.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Flanagan beat Compton 2-0, Benning beat Lane 2-1.
FINAL (25/18 points): Flanagan beat Benning 2-1.
Picture by Clive Benning: Canberk Benning (left) and Connor Flanagan.
Hats off to Josh Lee
CAMERON Holt may have collected the Plate trophy but it was Swindon’s Josh Lee who deserves a medal.
Cuestars director John Hunter praised Lee’s “good sportsmanship” in his quarter-final defeat by Joe Kitchen.
Kitchen, aged 12 and competing in only his second Cuestars tournament, thought he’d lost the match but Gold Tour player Lee pointed out that the youngster could still win – which he did.
Stoke SC-based Kitchen was then on the receiving end of a 42 break in the last-four by Holt (Liberal Club, High Wycombe), who went on to beat the 2012 Silver Tour rankings winner Troy Bodman in the final.
PLATE RESULTS (ONE-FRAME MATCHES)
LAST-32: Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury), Lee Bell (Woolston Social Club) beat Jasmine Bolsover (Woking SC), Reece Palmer (Woking SC) beat Anthony Church (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
LAST-16: Troy Bodman (Jesters, Swindon) beat Ball, Luke Beebe (Chandler’s Ford SC) beat Bell, Ben Tillison (Copnor SC, Portsmouth) beat Alfie Beardall (Woking SC), Karan Chadda (Chandler’s Ford SC) beat Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC), Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth) beat Ben Hatch (Eastleigh), Cameron Holt (Liberal Club, High Wycombe) beat Austen Petty (Chandler’s Ford SC), Josh Lee (Jesters, Swindon) beat Palmer, Joe Kitchen (Stoke SC, Gosport) beat Allistair Pollard (Salisbury SC).
QUARTER-FINALS: Bodman beat Beebe, Chadda beat Tillison, Holt beat Cowdroy, Kitchen beat Lee.
SEMI-FINALS: Bodman beat Chadda, Holt beat Kitchen.
FINAL: Holt beat Bodman.
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Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)