Record break for Paul Bunyard
AN OUTRAGEOUS shot from a snookered position helped an Aldershot player record the highest break in the 65-year history of the Byfleet & District Billiards & Snooker League.
Paul Bunyard compiled a monster 139 total clearance against Adrian Fowler, beating Sean Harvey’s 135 in 2005.
The 32-year-old re-wrote the record books in the final frame of Premier Division leaders Woking Snooker Centre’s 6-0 whitewash of visitors Knaphill Working Men’s Club.
However, with 112 on the scoreboard, “a fairly big bounce” off the cushion from the final black left the yellow snookered by the green.
Undeterred, Bunyard came off the side cushion with right-hand side, clipped the yellow into the green pocket and cleared the remaining colours.
Bunyard, who has made a 146, reckons this was actually his best break.
“Before the incident with the yellow, everything felt as if it was in the heart of the pocket and that I was cueing well,” he said.
“It was a break in which I was never really in much trouble, splitting the pack a couple of times from the black and leaving a couple of mid-range pots.”
Remarkably, Bunyard only returned to league snooker last year.
“I was extremely pleased as I can’t practise as much as I used to, or would like, but I’m glad that I can still play to a good standard at times,” he said.
Bunyard made his Cuestars debut in the South of England Championship Tour at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon, last month. He finished third in his round-robin group.