Castle close to two tons in Salisbury success
MARCHWOOD’S England international Billy Castle missed out on two centuries as he swept to victory in the sixth leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour.
In only his second start of the season, Castle dropped just two frames out of 18 in the tournament at Salisbury Snooker Club.
The 18-year-old, who is based at Cue T’s in Marchwood, on the edge of the New Forest near Southampton, climbed to fifth place in the rankings after accounting for Lee Bell (The Academy, Eastleigh) 3-0 in the final.
In the group stages, Castle compiled a 99 against rankings leader Daniel Woods (Chandler’s Ford SC) and a 95 against second-placed Bell.
On 93 against Woods, Castle potted the pink and developed a red which slid just too far past the middle pocket. And on 95 against Bell, he missed a thin cut on the black using the rest.
His only blemish on what would have been a perfect day was a 2-1 defeat by Sam Thomas (Cardiff).
Meanwhile, Thomas, who finished bottom of his round-robin group in the fifth leg at Chandler’s Ford last month, was unbeaten in Group A, losing just one frame in 11.
Bell, who finished fourth in a tough Group A, beat Group B winner Kevin Impett (Chandler’s Ford SC) 2-0 in the quarter-finals. And then the 17-year-old produced a stunning 2-0 victory over Thomas in the last-four.
Although Cuestars director John Hunter said Castle “played the snooker of the day”, he picked out Bell’s “impressive” semi-final win over Welsh junior international Thomas as the result of the tournament.
The seventh leg of the eight-tournament series is at The Academy, Basingstoke, on Sunday, April 10.
BREAKS
Billy Castle: 99, 95, 85, 69, 61, 53
Lee Bell: 49.
GOLD RESULTS:
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Sam Thomas (Penarth Rd SC, Cardiff); 2nd, Billy Castle (Cue T’s, Marchwood); 3rd, Daniel Woods (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Lee Bell (The Academy, Eastleigh); 5th, Danny Tallentire (Player’s, Westbury); 6th, James Bolton (Salisbury SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Kevin Impett (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Lee Carlton (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 3rd, Chris Richards (Roath Labour Club, Cardiff); 4th, Bradley Chappell (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 5th, Kieran Williams (Roath Labour Club, Cardiff); 6th, Ben Tanner (The Academy, Eastleigh).
QUARTER-FINALS (8 POINTS): Thomas beat Chappell 2-1, Bell beat Impett 2-0, Woods beat Carlton 2-0, Castle beat Richards 2-0.
SEMI-FINALS (12 points): Bell beat Thomas 2-0, Castle beat Woods 2-0.
FINAL (25/18 points): Castle beat Bell 3-0.
Second success for Winfield in Salisbury
SALISBURY Snooker Club has proved to be a happy hunting ground this season for Trowbridge teenager Daniel Winfield.
The 16-year-old extended his lead on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour with a second tournament win of the 2010/11 campaign.
A 2-0 victory over James Inglis (Worcester) in the final of the sixth leg in Salisbury took Winfield 36 points clear of his Midlands rival with two events to play.
He also won the first leg at Salisbury last October.
Group B winner Winfield accounted for Jamie Perry (Jesters, Swindon) 2-1 in the last-four. In the second semi, Inglis beat fourth-placed Oliver Parsons (Jesters, Swindon) 2-0. Parsons won the event at Chandler’s Ford last month.
On his Cuestars debut, Alex Gharibian, from the Sovereign SC, Farnborough, finished third in Group A thereby missing out on a semi-final spot by just one place.
The seventh leg of the eight-tournament series is at The Academy, Basingstoke, on Sunday, April 10.
BREAKS
James Inglis: 68, 35.
Alex Gharibian: 32, 25.
SILVER RESULTS:
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, James Inglis (Rileys, Worcester); 2nd, Jamie Perry (Jesters, Swindon); 3rd, Alex Gharibian (Sovereign SC, Farnborough); 4th, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 5th, Scott Sugden (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Daniel Winfield (Player’s, Westbury); 2nd, Oliver Parsons (Jesters, Swindon); 3rd, Ryan Gavin (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 4th, Thomas Lancastle (Keynsham SC); 5th, Joshua Lee (Jesters, Swindon).
SEMI-FINALS (12 points): Inglis beat Parsons 2-0, Winfield beat Perry 2-1.
FINAL (25/18 points): Winfield beat Inglis 2-0.
Full steam ahead for Holt
IT’S been a remarkable season for Reading’s Cameron Holt on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour.
The 13-year-old capped a massive change of form since Christmas with victory in the sixth leg at Salisbury Snooker Club.
A 2-0 win over Thatcham’s Sam Storey in the final took Holt to third place in the rankings.
Holt actually lost to Storey in the group stages but he booked a re-match by seeing off Group B winner Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) 2-0 in the last-eight and Group D runner-up Oliver Clark (Stoke SC, Gosport) 2-1 in the semi-finals.
The undoubtedly talented young potter, who is based at High Wycombe Liberal Club, finished fourth in his round-robin group in the season opener at Salisbury last October. In the next two events he finished third in his groups and again failed to qualify for the knockout.
However, in the New Year, Holt reached the semi-finals at Bournemouth and Chandler’s Ford. And now, with a tournament win under his belt, he’s an outside bet for the title.
Elsewhere, Callum Brown (Player’s Westbury) has taken over top spot from Connor Probets (Jesters, Swindon). The Group D winner lost 2-1 to Storey in the semis after a 2-0 quarter-final success over Corey Tallentire (Player’s, Westbury).
Probets failed to qualify from Group C.
Andy Dyer (Player’s, Westbury), unbeaten in Group A, was knocked out in the last eight, 2-0 by Clark.
Also in the quarter-finals, 11-year-old Woking schoolgirl Jasmine Bolsover, runner-up in Group B, went out 2-1 to Storey.
Sonnie O’Sullivan (Liberal Club, High Wycombe) cracked in a 27 break on his Bronze Tour debut and beat Chandler’s Ford’s Mike Trigg to finish third in his group.
The seventh leg of the eight-tournament series is at The Academy, Basingstoke, on Sunday, April 10.
BREAKS
Sonnie O’Sullivan: 27.
BRONZE RESULTS:
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Andy Dyer (Player’s, Westbury); 2nd, Corey Tallentire (Player’s, Westbury); 3rd, Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport); 4th, Spike Hull (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Jasmine Bolsover (Woking SC); 3rd, Joshua Hughes (Rileys, Worcester); 4th, Austen Petty (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Callum Goddard (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Sam Storey (Thatcham SC); 2nd, Cameron Holt (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 3rd, Robert Harding (Sovereign SC, Farnborough); 4th, Connor Probets (Jesters, Swindon); 5th, Karl Eggar (Stoke SC, Gosport).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury); 2nd, Oliver Clark (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Sonnie O’Sullivan (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 4th, Mike Trigg (Chandler’s Ford SC).
QUARTER-FINALS (8 points): Clark beat Dyer 2-0, Holt beat Cowdroy 2-0, Storey beat Bolsover 2-1, Browne beat Tallentire 2-0.
SEMI-FINALS (12 points): Holt beat Clark 2-1, Storey beat Browne 2-1.
FINAL (25/18 points): Holt beat Storey 2-0.
Consolation for Welsh raider Williams
GOLD Tour player Kieran Williams collected the Plate trophy at Salisbury Snooker Club.
Williams, from Cardiff, beat Silver Tour player Joshua Lee, from Swindon, in the final.
PLATE RESULTS
LAST-16: Sonnie O’Sullivan beat Danny Tallentire, Joshua Lee beat Nathan Farmer, Austen Petty beat James Bolton, Ryan Gavin beat Karl Eggar, Alex Gharibian beat Callum Goddard, Stewart Ball beat Mark Lloyd, Joshua Hughes beat Ben Tanner, Kieran Williams beat Spike Hull.
QUARTER-FINALS: Lee beat O’Sullivan, Gavin beat Petty, Gharibian beat Ball, Williams beat Hughes.
SEMI-FINALS: Lee beat Gavin, Williams beat Gharibian.
FINAL: Williams beat Lee.
Picture of Gold winner Billy Castle by Kevin Legg
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Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)