Hastings & Bexhill Bar Billiards league

OKJ join Cutter and Ash at the top
Sunday 19th April
​The Old King John regrouped after their week one defeat with a 5-0 win at the Cutter against the Jenny Lind A, they go third as Cutter A continue in top spot with a 4-1 win at the Ashburnham Arms against the Jenny Lind B and the Ashburnham Arms stay second as they defeated the Cutter B 4-1 at the Jenny Lind.

Old King John 5 Jenny Lind A 0 - Report by Ray Norton
After the draw, Gary Started against Paul, as nominal away team Paul started, but neither player made a significant start, each player made small scores, and Gary’s 290 was the biggest early score, neither player could cope with the wayward table and by the bar it was pretty much level, but Gary held on to clear the balls except the last white, after a number of attempts, Paul downed the black peg whilst 350 behind out of frustration.  Next up was Andy, who was suffering from a bad back vs Matt. Andy started with an impressive opening break of 2100, whilst Matt came off after 300, falling short with both balls on a break shot. Andy then scored a 400, and had fallen into the required slow and steady pace of the table, he slotted in a 1k break, whilst Matt, frustrated with the uneven manner of eventually added a 900 break, Andy then managed to lose a 2k break probably owing to a back twinge, but by the bar the gap was too great for Matt to catch.  Next up was OKJ captain Nigel vs Andrew, Andrew came off without scoring and Nigel started with 590, both struggled with the table, too slow and the balls were struggling to stay on a straight line, and too hard they were returning with venom, mostly catching pegs. Both players swapped a few scores in the 3-400’s, Nigel gradually moving ahead. Andrew started catching with a 1k and 630 break and it was very close at the bar, and it could have gone either way, but Nigel managed to hold on for the win.  After the refreshments, next up was Roger vs away captain Ray. Both players struggled to make significant breaks, again the table conditions were a factor, the scores for both players were equally bad until about 1/2 way until Roger then suddenly managed to get the correct pace and slotted in a 1k break, Ray had no answer and the table was continuing to play for him on random, when Roger then managed to score the break of the night, a 3.4 k. As a contest it was over, and Ray scored a few low scores, until by the Bar Roger was 5 k ahead. Ray had a very disappointing 890 score on the night.  Last up, was Mark vs Jimmy. Both scored small opening breaks, and both players appeared to be being mesmerised by the table, until again mid-frame Mark also managed to gauge the pace of the table and slotted in two 900 odd breaks. Jimmy was not liking the table, as it was refusing to accept any of his flair shots, and on one occasion, when not struck anywhere near hard enough a ball flew past the black peg (thankfully not taking it down), and ended up out of play, past the D. Jimmy had literally no luck and Mark continued to play the required slow and steady pace, Mark ran out the winner by 3k.

Ashburnham Arms 4 Cutter B 1 - Report by Sandy Harmer
The Ashburnham Arms went to the Jenny Lind to face off against the Cutter B. Joe Lyons kicked the night off for the Cutter B despite spending half the day in their home pub, Dave Pearce took an early lead with a 1300 break, the rest of the game was nip and tuck, Joe managed to close the lead to 500 only for Dave to rally late on and built a small break to give him enough for the win.  Sandy Harmer and Phil Swain faced off in the second game, Sandy came off with nearly 2k, Phil replied with 1300 and similar to the first game a lot of balls up the back and both players failing to clear, Sandy got the break back but was off early but held a 1k lead which he kept to win the second game of the night. The Ashburnham Arms continued their winning streak with Mick Osborne producing a fine comeback to make it 3-0. Dave de Gruchy took charge early on and managed to get to 2k with a 1k lead, neither players could take charge but very late on Mick managed to get the break back and built a solid 2730 at the bar to win the game.  Dave White and Sam Croxton matched up for the fourth game, Dave started and was going well looking bullet proof at 2k only to put the break down four times, Sam repaid the favour by missing a ball behind the 50 hole when looking good. Dave got the break back and held a 1300 break and a further 500 to build a strong lead whilst Sam struggled to hold any score.  Dave got the break back and added a further 1k to his score to make it 4-0.  Jay Amin ensured of no white-wash tonight as his good form continued against Dave White who was playing his second game.  Dave struggled throughout, probably thanks to the Guinness he had throughout the evening, Jay settled in early and built a small lead which he extended as the game progressed winning by 1300 points.  A great evening with good people, thanks to Jez for the food and Ray for preparing a good table.
Scores