Worrall quids in at Salisbury

SWINDON snooker player Sebastian Worrall, who also excels at poker, has staked his claim for the Cuestars South of England Championship Tour.

Worrall took the £135 prize pot after a 3-0 victory over Neil Craycraft, from Swindon’s 147 Snooker Club, in the final of the fifth event at Salisbury Snooker Club.

Based at Swindon Snooker Club, Worrall, who climbed to third in the rankings, played 32 frames and dropped just one - against Nick Birney (High Wycombe) in the last-16.

He accounted for Ryan Mears (Aldershot) 3-0 in the semi-finals. On the way to winning the tournament in Swindon last month, Mears beat Worrall 2-1 in the last-16.

Rankings leader Matt Wilson (High Wycombe) compiled two centuries, 122 and 113, during the day’s play. The 26-year-old was defeated 3-0 by Craycraft in the second semi. Wilson has at least reached the last-four in all five tournaments this season.

Chris Richards travelled across from Cardiff for his Cuestars debut and reached the last-16 where he lost 3-2 to Marc Harman.

The Salisbury tournament was the fifth in a series of eight across the South of England. Remaining fixtures: March 21, Jesters SC, Swindon; April 18, Salisbury SC; May 16, Jesters SC, Swindon.

BREAKS:

Matt Wilson: 122, 113, 86, 63, 54

Neil Craycraft: 80, 72, 72, 64, 52, 52

Phil Wildman: 78

Christian Chislett: 62, 50

Nick Birney: 60

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP POSITIONS:

GROUP A: 1st, Marc Harman (The Royal Surrey Poker & Snooker Club); 2nd, Phil Wildman (147 SC, Swindon); 3rd, James Facey (Rileys, Cardiff); 4th, Alan Childs (Salisbury SC).

GROUP B: 1st, Drew Farminer (Woolston Cons); 2nd, Chris Richards (Roath Labour Club); 3rd, Trevor Thorn (Basingstoke Conservative Club); 4th, Ollie Kendrick (Whitmore Reans Conservative Club).

GROUP C: 1st, Richard Clarke (Swindon); 2nd, Ian Bell (Ambassador, Poole); 3rd, Alan Grainger (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 4th, Will Meharg (Chandler’s Ford).

GROUP D: 1st, Neil Craycraft (147 SC, Swindon); 2nd, Ryan Mears (Rileys, Aldershot); 3rd, Christian Chislett (Selsey RBL); 4th, Martyn McEnroy (Woking SC).

GROUP E: 1st, Sebastian Worrall (Swindon SC); 2nd, Gary Bennett (Roath Labour Club); 3rd, Marc Russell (Woolston Cons); 4th, Duncan Humphreys (Salisbury).

GROUP F: 1st, Kevin Ward (Hassocks Mens Club, West Sussex); 2nd, Nick Birney (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 3rd, Zack Richardson (Moulsecoomb Social Club).

GROUP G: 1st, Adam Nash (Woolston Cons Club); 2nd, Anthony Cutler (Ambassador, Poole) 3rd, Davis Hui (Churchills, Eastleigh).

GROUP H: 1st, Matt Wilson (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 2nd, Alex O’Donoghue (147 SC, Swindon); 3rd, Lewis Miles (Jesters SC, Swindon).

KNOCKOUT:

LAST-16 (five points): Harman beat Richards 3-2, Mears beat Clark 3-1, Worrall beat Birney 3-1, Nash beat O’Donoghue 3-0, Wildman beat Farminer 3-2, Craycraft beat Bell 3-0, Ward beat Bennett 3-1, Wilson beat Cutler 3-2.

QUARTER-FINALS (eight points, £15): Mears beat Harman 3-2, Worrall beat Nash 3-0, Craycraft beat Wildman 3-1, Wilson beat Ward 3-0.

SEMI-FINALS (12 points, £30): Worrall beat Mears 3-0, Craycraft beat Wilson 3-0.

FINAL (25/18 points, £135/£70): Worrall beat Craycraft 3-0.

About Cuestars

Founded 16 years ago by director John Hunter, Cuestars runs grass-root snooker tournaments across the South of England and South Wales.

Competitions take place on Sundays between October and June, and cater for players aged eight to 80 - and in some cases even older!

All Cuestars tournaments, apart from the Team Challenge, are played off scratch. There are no handicaps. Cuestars uses a round-robin format leading to a knockout.

The Cuestars ‘South of England’ Championship Tour, which has no age limit, consists of eight tournaments. The top-16 ranked players will be invited to the end-of-season play-off for the title of Cuestars ‘South of England’ Champion. And the top eight aged 50 and over will play off to find the Cuestars ‘South of England’ Masters Champion.

There are three under-21 tours. Gold is for players with a high break of 60 or more, Silver is for players with a high break between 40-59 and Bronze is for players with a high break of less than 40. After eight tournaments, the top-eight ranked players from each tour will be invited to the end-of-season play-offs to find the Gold, Silver and Bronze ‘South of England’ Junior Champions.

Website: cuestars.uk.com. E-mail John Hunter: john@cuestars.uk.com