Dorset champion Cowdroy back in the winners enclosure

DORSET snooker champion Bradley Cowdroy certainly earned the £200 prize for winning the ninth and final leg of the Cuestars Championship Tour.

The 21-year-old from Bournemouth fought back from 2-0 down to prevail 3-2 against Simon Dent in the final on home tables at Greenbaize Snooker Club.

Always a formidable opponent, Dent (Shoreham-by-Sea) had taken the opening frame with a 135 total clearance.

And, earlier, Cowdroy knocked out ex-professional Jamie Wilson (Havant) 3-1 in the last-eight and former World Masters champion Dharminder Singh Lilly (Fareham) 3-0 in the semi-finals.

It means Cowdroy moves above Lilly into third place by one point. Mark Lloyd (Gosport) was runner-up behind rankings champion Wayne Townsend (Northolt).

Cowdroy made his Cuestars debut in 2011 and ends his final season on the junior circuit in Swindon later this month. He has competed in 109 rankings events across all five of the tours and has won 17 tournaments, including end-of-season championships.

Wilson and Lloyd both made breaks of exactly 100. Mark Prescott (Bournemouth) made the last-four on his Championship Tour debut. Will Forster (Wickham) beat O’Shay Scott (Eastleigh) in the Plate final.

The turnout of 28 was more than 50% up on the corresponding fixture last season.

RESULTS (BREAKS)

PRELIMS: Shane Hatfield 3-0 Will Forster, Paul Bailey 3-1 Alex Greenham, Dharminder Singh Lilly 3-1 (56) Jason Pusser, Oliver Sykes 3-0 Harry Wyatt, Rikki Moore 3-0 O’Shay Scott, Jamie Wilson (80) 3-1 William Thomson, Paul Davis (50) 3-0 Ryan Spratt, Bradley Cowdroy 3-0 Dan Webb, Simon Dent (58) 3-1 Steve Nevett, Connor Benzey 3-0 Damian Henners, Sean Reeves 3-0 Michael Large, Mark Lloyd 3-0 Stewart Crosswell,

LAST-16: Hatfield 3-1 Bailey, Lilly (67) 3-2 Sykes, Wilson (100, 58) 3-0 Moore, Cowdroy 3-2 Davis, Dent (64) 3-2 (85, 78) Benzey, Lloyd (100, 53, 51) 3-0 Reeves, Stuart Chapman 3-1 Neil Herd, Mark Prescott 3-0 Joshua Reeves.

QUARTER-FINALS: Lilly 3-0 Bailey, Cowdroy (55) 3-1 Wilson, Dent 3-1 Lloyd, Prescott 3-1 Chapman.

SEMI-FINALS (£40): Cowdroy (66) 3-0 Lilly, Dent 3-0 Prescott.

FINAL (£200/£100): Cowdroy 3-2 (135) Dent.

PLATE RESULTS (BREAKS)

PRELIMS: Forster 2-1 Wyatt, Nevett 2-0 Henners, Webb 2-0 J Reeves, Crosswell 2-1 Spratt, Greenham 2-1 Thomson.

QUARTER-FINALS: Forster 2-0 Nevett, Crosswell 2-1 Webb, Greenham (57) 2-0 Large, Scott 2-0 Pusser.

SEMI-FINALS: Forster (55) 2-1 Crosswell, Scott 2-0 Greenham.

FINAL (£30/£10): Forster 2-0 Scott.

Picture: Bradley Cowdroy (left) and Simon Dent