Third success in five weeks for Lilly
DHARMINDER Singh Lilly continued his purple patch on the green baize in the second leg of the Cuestars Seniors Tour in Newbury.
The 49-year-old from Fareham won the first leg of the EPSB English Seniors Tour in Coulsdon last month.
And four weeks later he clinched the third leg of the World Senior Championship in Reading.
Lilly said: “I have been playing well and if I can have a couple more deep runs at the World Senior qualifiers, I have a really good chance of getting enough ranking points to make the World Senior Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield.”
A Cuestars spokesman said: “It would be amazing to see a Cuestars player at the home of snooker in a world championship event.”
By his own admission, however, Lilly needed a huge slice of fortune on the way to victory in the second leg of the Cuestars over-40’s circuit at The Crucible Sports & Social Club.
In a high-quality semi-final against leg-one winner Matt Ford (Bracknell), Lilly admitted he had the biggest fluke of his life.
He came to the table 40 points adrift in the third-frame decider and with the balls spread perfectly for a clearance. But Ford thought he was home and dry when Lilly rattled a simple red to the corner only to see the ball hug the top cushion and drop dead weight into the opposite corner pocket.
The former IBSF World Masters champion capitalised with a match-winning run of 63. Ford, sick to the stomach, had the consolation of the day’s highest break of 94 in his opening frame of the morning against Neil Carroll (Southampton).
Lilly then pocketed £130 in prize money after beating first-time finalist Mark Prescott (Bournemouth) 2-1.
Prescott, who climbs to joint second place in the rankings behind Ford, enjoyed excellent knockout victories over Justin Eggins (Chichester), Steve Wheatland (Chandler’s Ford) and Lun Lee (Orpington) before pushing Lilly close in the final.
There were notable runs to the quarter-finals by David Beakhouse (Wokingham) and Alex Kirchin (Leighton Buzzard). Paul Davis (Wareham), the current Seniors rankings champion and winner of last week’s Championship Tour event, also reached the last-eight before losing 2-1 in an entertaining match against Ford.
Organisers thanked the team in Newbury who always look after them well and added that the tables and facilities are first class and all the players and officials enjoy coming here.
Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, hosts the third leg of nine on Sunday, November 24.
BREAKS
Matt Ford: 94, 77, 62, 47, 45.
Dharminder Lilly: 76, 63, 58, 57, 56, 46, 42, 42.
Alex Kirchin: 63.
Mark Prescott: 61.
Steve Wheatland: 57.
Jason Pusser: 51.
Lun Lee: 48.
Paul Davis: 42.
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP POSITIONS
GROUP A: 1st, Lun Lee (Orpington); 2nd, Matt Ford (Sunninghill Comrades Club); 3rd, Neil Carroll (Chandlers Ford SC); 4th, Steve Read (Chandlers Ford SC).
GROUP B: 1st, Paul Davis (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Dean Sycamore (Chichester City Club); 3rd; David Brock (Exeter SC); 4th, Andy Savage (The Reardon, Stoke-on-Trent).
GROUP C: 1st, Alex Kirchin (Dunstable SC); 2nd, Kevin Collins (Jesters, Swindon); 3rd, Steve Wheatland (Chandlers Ford SC); 4th, Peter Ebbins (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
GROUP D: 1st; Martin Wallace (Crucible, Newbury); 2nd, Jason Pusser (St James Institute, Bournemouth); 3rd, Neil Herd (Salisbury SC); 4th, Daryl Sims (Woking SC).
GROUP E: 1st, Justin Eggins (Chichester City Club); 2nd, David Beakhouse (Trinity Snooker Club, Henley); 3rd, Anthony Cutler (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Graham Leech (Crucible, Newbury).
GROUP F: 1st; Dharminder Singh Lilly (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Mark Prescott (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 3rd, Ray Grall (Hayes WMC); 4th, George Apperley (Crucible, Newbury).
GROUP G: 1st, Steve Ashton (Salisbury SC); 2nd, Darren Johnson (Petersfield Bowls & Snooker Club); 3rd, Shane Hatfield (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Michael Amsden (Frames, Coulsdon).
KNOCKOUT RESULTS
LAST-16 (10 points): Lee 2-0 Sycamore, Beakhouse 2-0 Johnson, Prescott 2-0 Eggins, Wheatland 2-0 Wallace, Kirchin 2-0 Pusser, Lily 2-0 Cutler, Ford 2-0 Ashton, Davis 2-0 Collins.
QUARTER-FINALS (12 pts, £10): Lee 2-0 Beakhouse, Prescott 2-1 Wheatland, Lilly 2-0 Kirchin, Ford 2-1 Davis.
SEMI-FINALS (15 pts, £25): Prescott 2-0 Lee, Lilly 2-1 Ford.
FINAL (25/18 pts, £130/£60): Lilly 2-1 Prescott.
Picture: Dharminder Lilly (left) and Mark Prescott
By Tim Dunkley and Chris Wyatt