Mickey takes the lead

TEN-year-old Mickey Joyce warmed up for the biggest day of his snooker career by taking over top spot in the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour rankings.

The Basingstoke potter (pictured left) collected his second winner’s trophy of the season in the seventh leg at Fareham Snooker Club and takes a six-point lead into the final event.

On Saturday, Joyce – along with fellow Silver Tour players Jamie Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth) and Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth) – will be in Leeds for the last-16 of the English Under-14 Championship.

Joyce, who is based at Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club, defeated his clubmate Dan Sykes 2-1 in the final.

“It was close,” he said. “I thrashed him in the first frame; he thrashed me in the second frame; I thrashed him in the third frame. It was a good final.”

But he had had an even tougher last-four match. Austen Petty, winner of the previous two events, had beaten Joyce 2-1 in a right-royal battle in the quarter-finals in Swindon last month.

“My toughest match was against Austen,” declared Joyce, who prevailed in a third-frame decider. “He put me under pressure.”

And he added: “It was a great day.”

It was Sykes’ first Silver Tour final. The Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club teenager, desperate to avoid a fourth semi-final defeat this season, fought back from 1-0 down to Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury) and took the decider on the blue.

And the 15-year-old had another reason to celebrate. The previous day in Cambridge, after 19 successive defeats this season, Sykes recorded his first win on the EASB Regional Junior Tour.

Five players have mathematical chances of claiming the Silver rankings title at the eighth and final leg at Salisbury Snooker Club on Sunday, May 4.

But, realistically, it’s a three-horse race as Sykes and Browne would need strange things to happen. Joyce has a six-point lead over Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport) while Petty (Chandler’s Ford SC) is ten points further back.

Fareham Snooker Club has 12 tables and was re-opened by Jimmy White and John Virgo in January, 2004, after being destroyed by fire three months previously.

BREAKS

Mickey Joyce: 38.
Austen Petty: 37, 35, 31.

SILVER RESULTS

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Austen Petty (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Anthony Church (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth); 3rd, Matt Gillon (Stoke SC, Gosport); 4th, Jamie Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Mickey Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Joe Kitchen (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Bradley Leishman (Stoke SC, Gosport).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury); 2nd, Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Cameron Gillon (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Canberk Benning (Jesters, Swindon).

QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Sykes beat Church 2-1, Petty beat C Gillon 2-0, Joyce beat Farmer 2-1, Browne beat Kitchen 2-0.

SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Joyce beat Petty 2-1, Sykes beat Browne 2-1.

FINAL (25/18 points): Joyce beat Sykes 2-1.

Picture by Tim Dunkley