Billy whizzes up Championship Tour rankings

BACK-to-back tournament wins has taken former professional Billy Castle up to second place on the Cuestars Championship Tour rankings.

The 31-year-old from Reading is now just three points adrift of Peter Devlin, whom he defeated 3-1 in the final of the third leg at The Crucible Sports & Social Club, Newbury.

Castle pocketed £250 in prize money while Londoner Devlin, another ex-professional, collected £120.

The high-quality 37-man field for the event sponsored by Reading-based P L Auto Services returned 42 breaks of 50 or more. Devlin took the honours with a 129 clearance in his last-32 victory over Simon Bubb (Ealing Common).

Castle made the day’s other century, a 113 in his last-four success over 14-year-old O’Shay Scott (Eastleigh). In the second semi, Devlin and Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford) managed five half-centuries, four of which came in just two frames.

Marcos Dayao (Battersea Park), the 2021/22 rankings champion, beat James Budd (Gosport) 2-0 in the Plate final.

Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, hosts the fourth leg of nine on Sunday, December 10.

RESULTS (BREAKS)

PRELIMS: Harry Wyatt 1-3 Franco Carchedi, Dan Hall 0-3 Ronnie Sullivan, Billy Castle (77, 51) 3-0 Lewis Frampton, James Budd 1-3 Mickey Joyce, Mike Trigg 3-0 Ryan Spratt.

LAST-32: Franco Carchedi 0-3 (59, 53) Ronnie Sullivan, Billy Castle (62, 54) 3-2 (52) Mickey Joyce, Mike Trigg 0-3 (57, 51) Connor Benzey, Mark Lloyd (87, 60) 3-0 Sean Reeves, Neil Craycraft 2-3 O’Shay Scott, Shaun Hayman 0-3 Stew Croswell, Matt Ford 2-3 John Donovan, Paul Morrison 2-3 (56) Simon Dent, Bradley Cowdroy 3-0 Philip Viljoen, Peter Devlin (129c, 61) 3-0 Simon Bubb, Dale Prout 3-1 Aristos Pampouris, Matt Atasoy 0-3 (60, 50) Labeeb Ahmed, Kevin Collins 0-3 Alex Greenham, Marcos Dayao (50) 2-3 Wayne Townsend, Jack Dady 0-3 Oliver Sykes, Evan Plummer (61) 3-0 Will Forster.

LAST-16: Ronnie Sullivan 0-3 (89, 88) Billy Castle, Connor Benzey 3-2 (50, 50) Mark Lloyd, O’Shay Scott 3-0 Stew Croswell, John Donovan 3-2 Simon Dent, Bradley Cowdroy (56) 2-3 (64) Peter Devlin, Dale Prout 3-1 Labeeb Ahmed, Alex Greenham 0-3 Wayne Townsend, Oliver Sykes (76, 73) 3-0 Evan Plummer.

QUARTER-FINALS: Billy Castle 3-2 (78) Connor Benzey, O’Shay Scott 3-2 John Donovan, Peter Devlin 3-0 Dale Prout, Wayne Townsend 1-3 (76, 50) Oliver Sykes.

SEMI-FINALS (£70): Billy Castle (113) 3-0 O’Shay Scott, Peter Devlin (64, 53) 3-2 (66, 63, 51) Oliver Sykes.

FINAL (£250/£120): Billy Castle (54, 50) 3-1 (88) Peter Devlin.

PLATE RESULTS (BREAKS)

PRELIMS: Ryan Spratt 2-0 Shaun Hayman, Harry Wyatt 2-0 Kevin Collins, James Budd 2-0 Sean Reeves, Philip Viljoen 0-2 (68) Matt Atasoy, Jack Dady 2-0 Will Forster.

QUARTER-FINALS: Ryan Spratt 0-2 Harry Wyatt, James Budd (63) 2-0 Matt Atasoy, Jack Dady 0-2 Marcos Dayao, Simon Bubb 2-0 Aristos Pampouris.

SEMI-FINALS: James Budd 2-1 Harry Wyatt, Marcos Dayao 2-1 (54) Simon Bubb.

FINAL (£30/£15): Marcos Dayao (57) 2-0 James Budd.

By Tim Dunkley and Steven Hughes