Report submitted by Stourbridge & District Snooker League

Report 4-5 March 2020

Premier Division results:

Baggeridge Social A 5 (E.Bastable, D.Hall 38, M.Catalano, J.Donoghue, R.Evans) Bearwood Cons 0

Brandhall Labour 5 (S.Perry, W.Robbins, R.Howen, P.Caldeira, A.Round) Kingswinford Cons C 0

Townsend Social 3 (D.Petch, J.Spence, D.Payne) Pockets SC A 2 (A.Smith, R.Pepperall)

Hotshots SC B 1 (D.Konior) Hotshots SC A 4 (J.Brown, N.Beckley, B.Sembi, M.Sutton)

West Midlands Police 2 (P.Gibbons, M.Sheehan) Amblecote Inst A 3 (A.Sidaway, R.Wooldridge, M.Ganderton)

Norton Social A bye

First Division results:

Moor Pool & Snooker 4 (W.Knight, N.Gennard, S.Dingley, I.Priest) Baggeridge Social B 1 (F.Bennett)

Pockets SC B 1 (J.Shuck 40) Norton Social B 4 (L.Grosvenor, T.Brown, C.Webb, P.Bowen)

Amblecote Inst C 0 Amblecote Inst D 5 (A.Kensett 65, S.Butcher, Jordan Taylor, C.Butcher, R.Brookes)

Kinver Const C 2 (G.Reece, S.Small) S/b Old Edwardians A 3 (C.Cowley 40, D.Woodall, P.Garbett)

Bahia’s SC A 3 (C.Whitehouse, J.Macdivitt, R.Bahia) Kinver Const A 2 (J.Woodhouse, G.Tranter)

Dudley Ex-Servicemen 3 (R.Thompson, S.Thompson, M.Short) Amblecote Inst B 2 (R.Grainger, M.Colbourne)

Kinver Const B 3 (R.Smith, A.Tromans, M.Dowler) Kingswinford Cons A 2 (T.Male, S.Spittle)

Third Division results:

Wombourne 3 (J.Wooldridge, D.Flavell, C.Pirnie) Bahia’s SC B 2 (P.Jukes, M.Reece)

Amblecote RBL B 4 (S.Bull, M.Lees, W.Crowther, R.Conway) Amblecote RBL A 1 (R.Boylin)

Stourbridge Inst B 0 Kinver Const D 5 (D.Barker, M.Hines, J.Smith, C.Barker, J.Cumiskey)

Amblecote Inst E 3 (S.Marsh, S.Mattocks, L.Hackett) Kingswinford SC 2 (M.Surmacz, S.Ballinger)

S/b Old Edwardians B 4 (J.Ball, B.Ball, Steve & Sam Ball) Stourbridge Institute D 1 (Dom Bacciocchi)

Premier Division report: With two matches left to play in the top flight, Baggeridge Social A edged a little closer to the Premier Division championship with a 5-0 win at home to Bearwood Cons, while their closest rivals, Hotshots SC A beat their own B team 4-1, and they now trail by a single point.

Eliott Bastable, Dave Hall, Maria Catalano, and Justin Donoghue won with reasonable comfort for Baggeridge but Reanne Evans was hard-pressed by Joe Anderson, just winning on the pink. Dawid Konior gave Hotshots B a good start against their A team but Jamie Brown, Neil Beckley, Bal Sembi & Mark Sutton recovered in good style to ensure Hotshots A dropped no less than a point behind. Baggeridge have an away match against Kingswinford Cons C then play Norton Social at home, while Hotshots entertain Townsend Social before travelling to face West Midlands Police, on whose tables they clinched the championship in the final frame of the 2017-18 season.

Amblecote Institute A are only two points behind Hotshots A but have only one match left to play, but virtually assured themselves of 3rd place with a 3-2 win away to West Midlands Police, thanks to Ash Sidaway, Rick Wooldridge and Mark Ganderton.

Brandhall Labour took all five frames at home to Kingswinford Cons C, a really good result for them, although the visitors were well in contention in some of the frames, and Townsend Social just edged past Pockets SC A, courtesy of Darrell Payne’s decider against John Betton.

First Division report: Norton Social B, proving to be the most consistent all-round team, took a huge step towards securing the First Division championship with a 4-1 victory on the tables of their closest rivals, Pockets SC B, a result which puts them nine points clear of their opponents. Luke Grosvenor, Tony Brown, Paul Bowen and Carl Webb, who gave the most fluent display of the night, all won and Andrew Brown looked likely to do so until Jamie Shuck cleared the last three reds and colours for 40, to record his 19th successive win on the pink ball.

Kinver Constitutional’s A and C teams, both of whom are challenging for 2nd place, also lost: the A team went down 3-2 at Bahia’s SC A, for whom Reece Bahia took the decider against enthusiastic reserve, Bev Jackson, to take his personal record to 18/20, while the C team lost 3-2 at home to the ever-capable Old Edwardian A team. Chris Cowley, with a break of 40, Dave Woodall and Paul Garbett won for Old Eds while Gregg Reece won his 17th frame of a really good season for Kinver, although he was taken to the black by Gavin Dunn.

Kinver’s B team edged another close match at home to Kingswinford Cons A 3-2, thanks to Ron Smith, belying his 85 years, Arnie Tromans and the consistent Mark Dowler, while similarly, Dudley Ex-Servicemen relied on narrow wins for Rob Thompson, his son, Sam and Matt Short to beat Amblecote Institute B 3-2. Kinver B, Dudley and the afore-mentioned Bahia’s are all within 10 points of the second-placed team; the season still has six weeks to go, so there is much to play for.

This was exemplified in no uncertain terms when Amblecote Institute D’s Adam Kensett stroked home a break of 65, the highest in the division, in a 5-0 victory against their own C team. It followed a sequence of three 4-1 wins in their previous four matches, for this very much in-form team, who have also qualified for the semi-finals of the Plate knock out handicap in two weeks’ time.

Finally, Moor Pool & Snooker proved yet again how their home form stands up to the closest scrutiny, with a 4-1 win against Baggeridge Social B. Warren Knight, who did well to beat Luke Whale, Neil Gennard, Simon Dingley and Ian Priest won with Frankie Bennett replying.

Second Division report: Three of the top four teams won as Old Edwardians B increased their lead at the top of the Second Division to four points. The Ball family, Steve and his sons, Jack, Sam and Brett built a 4-0 lead at home to Stourbridge Institute D before Dominic Bacciocchi struck back.

Amblecote RBL B defeated their own A team 4-1 to move into second place. Steve Bull, who beat the prolific Billy Green, Mark Lees, Bill Crowther and Richard Conway eased into a 4-0 lead but Alex Bull lost narrowly to Rob Boylin.

There are two points further back to the early season leaders, Kingswinford Snooker Centre, who lost 3-2 away to Amblecote Institute E. Matt Surmacz and the still unbeaten Steve Ballinger both won but Shawn Marsh, Sam Mattocks and Lewis Hackett secured another win for the Institute in this, their first season of competitive play.

Wombourne came through a tough home match with Bahia’s SC B 3-2, thanks to John Wooldridge, Dave Flavell and Colin Pirnie, after Pete Jukes and Mark Reece had given the visitors every chance, and Wombourne are just six points off second place with six matches to be played.

Kinver’s D team, newly-formed this season, have suffered three 5-0 defeats on their travels and had won only one frame out of ten played at Stourbridge Institute, but they turned the form around with an impressive result taking all five frames against the Institute’s B team. Dan Barker, Marcus Hines, Joe Smith, John Cumiskey and Chris Barker, who pipped Harry Jones on the black, gave the visitors cause for celebration.

WORCESTER INTER LEAGUE Over 40s

Stourbridge A gave themselves a great chance of reaching this season’s final, with back to back wins against Kidderminster B. In the away match at St John’s Club, Stourbridge won all five frames on 1st March then five days later they won 4-1 at Stourbridge Institute. Gavin Sloan, Pete Gibbons and Rob Howen won both of their frames, Dave Oakes and Mark Sheehan and Andy Round one each. Ray Pugh earned Kidderminster a consolation point with a win in the final frame against Andy Round. If they can hold their own against Worcester, Stourbridge A can reach the final of the competition they won seven times in succession, prior to the success of Evesham then Stourbridge B twice in this event in the last three years.