Nine out of ten for cue sports all-rounder

ALDERSHOT hotshot Ryan Mears awarded himself nine out of ten after winning his first Cuestars snooker tournament of the season.

The 27-year-old cue sports all-rounder (pictured) defeated his Byfleet league rival Alan Harvey 3-0 in the final at Salisbury Snooker Club.

Mears, who also excels at billiards and pool, dropped only two frames out of 20 during the fourth leg of the Cuestars South of England Championship Tour – and that was to Harvey in the group stages.

“I was pretty happy with it,” he said. “I’ll give myself nine out of ten.

“I was very steady and didn’t really dip at any point the whole day. I did score a little bit heavier than I have been doing lately so that was quite pleasing.”

Mears went straight in with a long red from his opponent’s break in the final and made 32. He followed that with a 45 to take a 1-0 lead.

Mears revealed that his love of billiards is fast approaching that of snooker. He is 34th on the World Billiards rankings after reaching the quarter-finals of the UK Championship and the last-16 of the World Championship.

“I do enjoy playing billiards,” he said. “It’s like a science. I’m enjoying the people, the atmosphere and the games.

“I just about prefer snooker but it’s very close. It’s certainly overtaken pool.”

A 92 break by Mears to wrap up a 3-0 semi-final victory over Nathan Williams (Salisbury) proved to be the highest of the day.

Rankings leader and defending champion Matt Ford (Bracknell) retains his one-point advantage over three-time champion Jon Charlton (Haslemere, Surrey) as the top two both made quarter-final exits.

Elsewhere, Salisbury Club Champion Adam Guyatt made a group-stage exit and Justin Tuffill (Westbury) was voted the best turned out player – but sadly didn’t win a frame.

The fifth leg of six is at Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, March 20.

BREAKS

Ryan Mears: 92, 81, 78, 75, 58, 52.
Alan Harvey: 74, 64, 55, 53, 53, 51.
Matt Ford: 71, 50.
Neil Clayton: 63, 56, 54, 52.

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP POSITIONS

GROUP A: 1st, Ryan Mears (Sovereign SC, Farnborough); 2nd, Alan Harvey (Staines); 3rd, Reece King (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury).

GROUP B: 1st, Anthony Rice (Salisbury SC); 2nd, Matt Ford (Sunninghill Comrades Club); 3rd, Adam Guyatt (Salisbury SC); 4th, Martin Wallace (Crowthorne RBL).

GROUP C: 1st, Neil Clayton (Woking SC); 2nd, Nathan Williams (Salisbury SC); 3rd, Richard Arnold (Salisbury SC); 4th, Lee Stagg (Salisbury SC).

GROUP D: 1st, Jon Charlton (Aldingbourne Social Club, Chichester); 2nd, David Rice (Salisbury SC); 3rd, Simon Peacock (Salisbury SC); 4th, Justin Tuffill (Westbury).

KNOCKOUT RESULTS

QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Mears 3 D Rice 0, Williams 3 A Rice 0, Clayton 3 Ford 1, Harvey 3 Charlton 1.

SEMI-FINALS (£20, 15 points): Mears 3 Williams 0, Harvey 3 Clayton 2.

FINAL (£80/£40, 25/18 points): Mears 3 Harvey 0.

Pictures by Tim Dunkley