Summer round-up

FOR many Cuestars players, summer just means giving thanks to Willis Carrier, the inventor of air-conditioning, and leaving the club while it’s still light outside.

The new Cuestars season kicks off with the under-21s in Salisbury on Sunday. But for some, last season never really ended.

HOME INTERNATIONALS

This historic picture by Jim Cowdroy commemorates the highlight of the holiday period.

Oliver Sykes, Jamie Wilson and Aidan Murphy helped the England Under-16 B team to a shock victory in the Home Internationals at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds. Bradley Cowdroy captained the A side, which also included Mickey Joyce.

Championship Tour player Ryan Mears helped England A win the billiards title and Chloe White played for the England Ladies A snooker team that finished as runners-up.

MIUS Cup

Less than two weeks later, many of the same players were at the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester for the under-18 MIUS Cup that attracted 32 youngsters from five countries.

Bradley Cowdroy was knocked out by Jackson Page, the eventual tournament winner, in the semi-finals. Oliver Sykes and Jamie Wilson made the last-eight. Steven Hughes, Aidan Murphy, Mickey Joyce and Olly Gibbs made last-16 exits.

Billy Castle

Second-year professional Billy Castle said reaching the last-16 of a ranking event for the second time was “pretty good going”.

The 26-year-old, who earned a two-year tour card after winning the Cuestars Championship Tour in 2016/17 and progressing through Q School, had an excellent run in the Paul Hunter Classic in Germany.

Now ranked 87th in the world, Castle beat lulian Boiko (Ukraine) 4-1, Xiao Guodong (China) 4-3 from 3-1 down, Andrew Higginson 4-3 from 3-2 down and then lost 4-2 to Daniel Wells.

Castle, who reached the same stage at last season’s European Masters, pocketed £1,800 prize money.

World Seniors Tour

Our esteemed leader John Hunter and Billy Castle’s main sponsor Neil Herd travelled to Belgium for a World Seniors Tour event.

Hunter beat Steve Lambrechts (Belgium) 3-2 and then lost 3-1 to Jonathan Bagley in the last-16. Herd was beaten 3-2 by Lee Martin in his first match.

Rotary Summer Cup

And nine-year-old O’Shay Scott retained the Rotary Summer Cup after 29 days of competition at Chandlers Ford Snooker Club. Fiona Cunningham was runner-up and Caden Read was third.

Picture by Jim Cowdroy

From left: Bradley Cowdroy, Aidan Murphy, Chloe White, Mickey Joyce, Jamie Wilson. Front: Oliver Sykes.

Have you got any snooker news?

Send me your snooker news now. It doesn’t have to be from a Cuestars tournament. E-mail me details or contact me via Facebook and you could be on the Cuestars website and in your local newspaper. E-mail: [email protected]

Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)