Two out of two for Shane Castle

THAT’S two appearances this season and two tournament wins for the remarkably talented youngster Shane Castle.

The 13-year-old’s victory in the seventh leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour was all the more remarkable considering where he was the previous day.

Castle (Chandler’s Ford SC) dispatched club-mate Bouwe Bosma by three close frames to nil in the final at The Academy, Basingstoke.

On the Saturday, Castle was competing in the last-16 stage of the English Under-19 Championship at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds.

The only player in the country this season to reach the last-eight of three national championships at three different age groups went out in the quarter-finals.

He cruised past the 2009 English Under-14 champion Oliver Lines, the 15-year-old son of Leeds-based professional Peter Lines. Following the 4-1 victory, he lost 4-3 to 17-year-old Tom Maxfield (Staffs), the 2006 national under-13 champion.

And there was to no morning-after hangover.

Castle, who also triumphed at Copnor SC in December, won all four group-stage matches in Basingstoke – including a 3-2 win from 2-0 down to Danny Tallentire.

He then edged Ben Tanner (The Academy, Eastleigh) 3-2 in a semi-final match of the highest quality.

Castle explained: “He had an 80 to go 2-1 and I had 85 to go 2-2. It was a pretty good match.”

Castle climbed to fifth place, one point in front of 18-year-old Tanner, who also recorded breaks of 65, 52, 45 and 40 through the day.

Despite losing to Cuestars new boy Stuart Scott, from Romford, Bosma won Group B and overcame Tallentire (Player’s, Westbury) in five frames in the last-four.

If rankings leader Daniel Woods turns up at the eighth and final event in Swindon next month, he will secure top spot and top seeding into the June play-offs.

The eighth and final leg of the series is at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon, on Sunday, May 8. The last-16 play-offs will be at Jesters on Sunday, June 5.

BREAKS

Shane Castle: 85.
Ben Tanner: 80, 65, 52, 45, 40.
Lee Carlton: 60, 42, 40.
Stewart Scott: 58.
Bouwe Bosma: 45.

GOLD RESULTS:

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Shane Castle (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Danny Tallentire (Player’s, Westbury); 3rd, Daniel Woods (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, James Facey (Roath Labour Club, Cardiff); 5th, Sachin Plaha (Egham United Services Club).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Bouwe Bosma (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Ben Tanner (The Academy, Eastleigh); 3rd, Lee Carlton (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 4th, Stuart Scott (Romford SC); 5th, Chris Richards (Roath Labour Club, Cardiff).

SEMI-FINALS (12 points): Castle beat Tanner 3-2, Bosma beat Tallentire 3-2.

FINAL (25/18 points): Castle beat Bosma 3-0.

Midlands raider strikes again

MIDLANDS raider James Inglis is now virtually certain of second seeding in June’s play-offs after claiming his third tournament win of the season on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour.

Inglis, still in his Cuestars debut season, defeated Keynsham’s Thomas Lancastle 2-0 in the seventh-leg final at The Academy, Basingstoke.

And the 17-year-old, based at Rileys, Worcester exacted revenge over rankings leader Daniel Winfield for a 2-0 defeat in last month’s final in Salisbury.

The pair met in the last-four. Inglis, who has played in two fewer events than his 16-year-old rival from Player’s, Westbury, prevailed 2-1.

Sixth-placed Lancastle, who actually beat Inglis 2-1 en route to winning Group A, accounted for Winfield’s club-mate Gary Wilkins by the same score in the second semi.

Winfield won a tight Group B despite losing 2-1 to Wilkins.

The eighth and final leg of the series is at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon, on Sunday, May 8. The last-16 play-offs will be at Jesters on Sunday, June 5.

BREAKS

James Inglis: 42.
Thomas Lancastle: 41.
Mark Lloyd: 32.

SILVER RESULTS:

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Thomas Lancastle (Keynsham SC); 2nd, James Inglis (Rileys, Worcester) 3rd, Paul Ives (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 4th, Joshua Lee (Jesters, Swindon).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Daniel Winfield (Player’s, Westbury); 2nd, Gary Wilkins (Player’s, Westbury); 3rd, Jamie Perry (Jesters, Swindon); 4th, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport).

SEMI-FINALS (12 points): Lancastle beat Wilkins 2-1, Inglis beat Winfield 2-1.

FINAL (25/18 points): Inglis beat Lancastle 2-0.

Champion Browne survives play-off

CALLUM Browne survived a play-off in the group stages at The Academy, Basingstoke, to notch up a third tournament win of the season on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour.

And his 2-1 victory in the final over Jack Dady stretched his lead over Connor Probets (Jesters, Swindon) to 20 points with one leg to play.

Browne (Player’s, Westbury) was one of three players in Group D to finish with one win out of three. He beat Michael Joyce (The Academy, Basingstoke) and Sam Storey (Thatcham SC) to a knockout place.

Like a true champion, Browne took advantage of his good fortune to account for Group A winner Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) and Group C runner-up Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) to book his clash with Dady.

Home player Dady, making his first start of the season, was undefeated in Group C. He saw off Sonnie O’Sullivan (Liberal Club, High Wycombe) in the last-eight and did Browne a huge favour by knocking out Probets in the semis.

Robert Harding (Sovereign SC, Farnborough), who won Group D with three straight wins, went out to Group A runner-up Probets in the quarter-finals.

Cowdroy defeated Group B winner Karl Eggar (Stoke SC, Gosport) in the last eight.

The eighth and final leg of the series is at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon, on Sunday, May 8. The last-16 play-offs will be at Jesters on Sunday, June 5.

BREAKS

Jack Dady: 29, 35.
Sonnie O’Sullivan: 28, 20.
Robert Harding: 24.

BRONZE RESULTS:

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 2nd, Connor Probets (Jester’s, Swindon); 3rd, Joshua Hughes (Rileys, Worcester); 4th, Mike Trigg (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, David Edwards (Liberal Club, High Wycombe).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Karl Eggar (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Sonnie O’Sullivan (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 3rd, Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport); 4th, Spike Hull (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Corey Tallentire (Player’s, Westbury).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Jack Dady (The Academy, Basingstoke); 2nd, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 3rd, Cameron Holt (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 4th, Oliver Clark (Stoke SC, Gosport).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Robert Harding (Sovereign SC, Farnborough); 2nd, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury); 3rd Sam Storey (Thatcham SC); 4th, Michael Joyce (The Academy, Basingstoke).

QUARTER-FINALS (8 points): Browne beat Ball 1-0, Cowdroy beat Eggar 1-0, Dady beat O’Sullivan 1-0, Probets beat Harding 1-0.

SEMI-FINALS (12 points): Browne beat Cowdroy 1-0, Dady beat Probets 1-0.

FINAL (25/18 points): Browne beat Dady 2-1.

Debutant Scott cleans up in the Plate

ROMFORD Snooker Club’s Stuart Scott capped his Cuestars debut with a winner’s trophy.

Scott missed out on a semi-final place in the Gold competition despite beating finalist Bouwe Bosma 3-2 and Cardiff’s Chris Richards 3-1.

Scott accounted for Gosport’s Mark Lloyd 2-0 in the Plate final.

PLATE RESULTS

LAST-16: Joshua Hughes beat Joshua Lee, Oliver Clark beat Jamie Perry, David Edwards beat Sonnie O’Sullivan, Mark Lloyd beat Lee Carlton, Paul Ives beat Corey Tallentire.

QUARTER-FINALS: Clark beat Hughes, Lloyd beat Edwards, Ives beat Nathan Farmer, Stuart Scott beat Spike Hull.

SEMI-FINALS: Lloyd beat Clark, Scott beat Ives.

FINAL: Scott beat Lloyd 2-0.

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Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)