Three-ball wizard Mears helps England win Home Internationals

ALDERSHOT hotshot Ryan Mears was instrumental in helping England win the Home Internationals billiards title.

Representing his country at the three-ball game for the second time, the 26-year-old (pictured) won four of his five one-hour matches at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds.

Mears (England A) beat Sean McAllister (England B), Paul Destro (Jersey), Paul Whelan (Scotland) and Aidan Murray (Republic of Ireland A). He lost by seven points to Lloyd Myers (Republic of Ireland B) and sat out the match against Northern Ireland.

Only three players in the whole two-day event had better stats than Mears.

He last played billiards for his country in 2012 and was also a member of the England Men’s snooker team in 2012 and 2013.

Incidentally, former Cuestars member Nick Jennings played a leading role in this year’s win for the England Men’s snooker team.

Following the Home Internationals, Mears was one of 64 entries for the 2015 LITEtask UK Open Billiards Championship at the same venue.

And he was “highly delighted” to pocket £120 for making it to the quarter-finals, where he lost 987-181 to world number one David Causier, whose four centuries in that match included a massive 250.

Unlike in snooker, there are no professional or amateur players so Causier is the billiards equivalent of Mark Selby.

Last season, Mears finished third on the Cuestars South of England Championship Tour, a snooker title he won in 2010/11.

Report and picture by Tim Dunkley.