Two-ton Wilson stretches Championship Tour lead

TWO century breaks helped High Wycombe’s snooker powerhouse Matt Wilson extend his lead on the Cuestars South of England Championship Tour.

And, worryingly for his title-rivals, the 26-year-old insisted his triumph in the third leg at the Ambassador Snooker Club in Poole was a “better performance” than his first-event win in Swindon in October.

Wilson, based at High Wycombe’s Liberal Club, claimed the £150 top prize after a comfortable 2-0 win over Salisbury’s Mark Green in the final.

He leads Richard Somauroo, who won in Salisbury last month, by 32 points.

In the group stages, Wilson, a semi-finalist in Salisbury, dropped just one frame in seven and amassed a 112 against former Cuestars Under-21 champion Alex Dunkley (Stubbington SC).

He added 113 and 83 against club-mate Nick Birney in the last 16.

Wilson described his 72 in a quarter-final decider from 43 points down to home player Gavin Rogers as his “best break of the day by far”.

He beat Southampton’s Town Champion Mike Finn 3-1 in the semi-final.

“I played well,” he told cuestars.uk.com.

Five days before his 24th birthday, Finn, who climbed to joint fourth in the rankings, smashed in another trademark century - 111 against Zack Richardson (Brighton).

Aldershot’s Ryan Mears scored the tournament’s fourth ton – 100 exactly. Mears, 21, went out 2-0 to Green in the last eight.

Beaten semi-finalist Drew Farminer revealed he was on the verge of quitting snooker just 24 hours before the Poole tournament.

“I was going to jack it in,” he said. “I was going to hang my cue up. I’d had a bit of a nightmare with the baby and everything. It was a bit much to be playing snooker.

“I wasn’t even going until about 9am. Adam (Nash) convinced me to come along. Then I thought I’d go and chance my arm and I ended up having a brilliant day.

“I slowed my game right down. It seemed to work; I concentrated better. Now I’ve got a chance of qualifying for the last 16 (end-of-season play off).”

However, the 26-year-old conceded the semi-final to Green.

“It was far too late,” he explained. “I ran out of steam; I was knackered.”

Farminer - captain of Woolston Cons A, Super League leaders in the Southampton & District Social Clubs League - announced he will marry Jenna Cooper, the mother of his three-month-old son Dylan, on August 28 next year.

The Poole tournament was the third in a series of eight across the South of England. Remaining fixtures: January 17, Jesters SC, Swindon; February 14, Salisbury SC; March 21, Jesters SC, Swindon; April 18, Salisbury SC; May 16, Jesters SC, Swindon.

The prize pot for the end-of-season play-off now stands at £122 with five events still to play.

BREAKS:

Matt Wilson: 113, 112, 83, 72, 57, 54

Mike Finn: 111, 86, 84, 60, 54

Ryan Mears: 100, 98, 80, 51

Gavin Rogers: 81, 70

Andy Hudson: 75

Neil Clayton: 65, 62, 62

Zack Richardson: 61

Mark Green: 60, 52

Alex Dunkley: 56

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP POSITIONS:

GROUP A: 1st, Ryan Mears (Rileys, Aldershot); 2nd, Mike Finn (Woolston Cons); 3rd, Adam Nash (Woolston Cons Club); 4th, Dean Knight (Horsham Club); 5th, Mark Wells (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).

GROUP B: 1st, Anthony Cutler (Ambassador SC, Poole); 2nd, Liam Tinne (Salisbury SC); 3rd, David Morgan (Horsham Club); 4th, Lee Roling (The Academy, Eastleigh); unplaced, Fred Pearce (Burgh Heath, Surrey).

GROUP C: 1st, Mark Green (Salisbury); 2nd, Martyn McEnroy (Woking SC); 3rd, Peter Hendes (Ambassador SC, Poole); 4th, Jack Lander (Q Ball, Eastbourne).

GROUP D: 1st, Zack Richardson (Moulsecoomb Social Club, Brighton); 2nd, Danny Hocking (Staines Cons); 3rd, Kevin Ward (Hassocks Mens Club, West Sussex); 4th, Ian Bell (Ambassador SC, Poole).

GROUP E: 1st, Drew Farminer (Woolston Cons); 2nd, Nick Birney (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 3rd, Bradley Chappell (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); unplaced, Dennis Hushley (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).

GROUP F: 1st, Matt Wilson (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 2nd, Alex Dunkley (Stubbington SC); 3rd, Andy Hudson (Ambassador SC, Poole); 4th, Ron Ellis (Burgh Heath, Surrey).

GROUP G: 1st, Neil Clayton (Woking SC); 2nd, Michael Collier (Pulborough SC, West Sussex); 3rd, John Smith (The Academy, Eastleigh); 4th, Alan Childs (Salisbury SC).

GROUP H: 1st, Gavin Rogers (Ambassador SC, Poole); 2nd, Christian Chislett (Selsey RBL); 3rd, Ollie Tydeman (Woolston Cons); 4th, James Bolton (Salisbury SC)

KNOCKOUT:

LAST-16: Mears beat Tinne 2-0, Green beat Hocking 2-0, Farminer beat Dunkley 2-0, Clayton beat Chislett 2-0, Finn beat Cutler 2-1, Richardson beat McEnroy 2-1, Wilson beat Birney 2-0, Rogers beat Collier 2-0.

QUARTER-FINALS (£25): Green beat Mears 2-0, Farminer beat Clayton 2-1, Finn beat Richardson 2-0, Wilson beat Rogers 2-1.

SEMI-FINALS (£40): Green beat Farminer 3-0, Wilson beat Finn 3-1.

FINAL (£150/£80): Wilson beat Green 2-0.

Did you do something notable in the last Cuestars tournament? Or any other tournament? Have you just beaten your highest break? Have you got anything to say? E-mail me details at timdunkleysnookerdad@hotmail.com and you could be on the Cuestars website.

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