Hastings & Bexhill Bar Billiards league

Wins for Cutter and Ash in week one
Saturday 11th April
​The Rix Cup started with wins for both Cutter teams and the Ashburnham Arms.  The Cutter A produced a fine performance to beat the league and Challis Chalice champions the Old King John 4-1, the Cutter B defeated the Jenny Lind A 3-2, meanwhile at the Cutter the Ashburnham Arms squeezed past the Jenny Lind B 3-2.

​

Jenny Lind A 2 Cutter B 3 - Report by Ray Norton

After the draw, with both sides only having 4 players, Jenny A captain Ray Norton, took on Cutter B captain Sam. Sam made the classic OKJ mistake and left both balls short, allowing Ray to start, and he compiled his largest ever OJK break of 1.9k, before coming off keeping his score intact, despite some close calls. Sam scored lightly but came off after about 500, leaving Ray to return, he quickly got the break back and then amassed another 1.8K break, but leaving a ball resting on the white peg. Sam mopped up some loose balls and left the difficult ball for ray to deal with, which he did and went on to a 1k break, before Sam took over and played out the table to finish on 1660, to Ray’s 5470.  Matt then played Jay. Matt started well but came off too soon, and Jay matched Matt’s score. The frame went back and forth with Matt slightly scoring more than Jay until Jay got a 900 break to put him into a slight lead, Matt then took control and played out the table to score an 850 break and secure the frame.  Next up was Phil and Andrew, Phil started with a 500 score, followed by Andrew scoring 800. Scores were swapped, before Phil amassed a very slow but assured highest break of the night of 2.4k, after that the players swapped small scores, and discovered the variety of bounces off the top cushion, where sometimes it flung up the table and sometimes it just died. By the end Phil was 1700 in the lead.  After the refreshments and bus-stop, which Phil also won, next up was Paul Vs Dave. Both started with small breaks and Dave seemed to be better suited to the pace of the OKJ table, as he moved slowly into the lead on each turn, Paul was very much out of luck. Paul made some ground up in the second half, but by the end was 400 short by the bar.  Last up, on the second draw, Andrew drew Sam. Sam having learnt from his first frame, scored an opening 1.9k break, and Andrew seemingly having not learned, came off after scoring 500 odd. Sam returned but could not get back to the break and each player struggled to clear the balls to obtain the break shot, Andrew lost a 390 break on a wayward white peg, and the sored a 190 to catch up slightly, neither player was comfortable on the table by this point and they both had some bad runs of the balls. Sam pushed ahead and by the bar was over 1500 in the lead.  Final score Jenny A 2 Cutter B 3, an enjoyable night on a table that seemed to get more tricky as the night progressed

​

Jenny Lind B 2 Ashburnham Arms 3 - Report by Sandy Harmer

The Ashburnham Arms started the night with a win as Sandy Harmer won the first game against Alex Reardon. Sandy started with 1k but Alex pegged his break giving Sandy the break straight back and he took full advantage with a 4900 break. Alex rallied but pegs and horrible places balls prevented a decent break. Sandy got the break back at the death and added a further 2900 to his total to take the first game. Jez Horsler and Dave White took to the baize in the second game, Jez was off uncharacteristically early with 1k, but found himself back on and took advantage with a 3170 break to establish a solid lead of 3k, Dave couldn't bridge the gap as Jez went back on and put in another 3k break to ensure the win despite a late rally from Dave to take his total score just over 3k.  The Jenny Lind B took the lead with Andy Horsler winning the third frame against Mick Osborne, Andy started the brighter and took an early lead which he extended to over 1k. The table became tight and the balls in awkward positions leading to pegs and unusual shots, Andy kept on scoring as the balls prevented Mick from getting the break back. The Ashburnham Arms captain Dave Pearce produced a captain's performance to level the match in a cracking game against Steve Astley, Steve took full control from the start, a 1k then a 1.7k break gave him a near 3k lead, Dave struggled early on but once he got the break back late on he looked in control, a measured break got him just 350 behind at the bar which he sunk all the balls to win the game by 20 after a 2760 break. Dave White and Rob Boudnik played in the final game of the night in the decider. A very close game was the order of the day, Dave took an early lead, Rob was fighting back but couldn't get on par with Dave until late on, Rob got the break back and was on course to take the lead and with only minutes to go only to peg his break, Dave went on and saw our the game with a win by 800 points. A great evening of bar billiards. Many thanks to the Cutter for the food and a good table.

​

Scores