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Inter County Finals 2000 /
Junior England Trials 2000 /
National Junior Championships
Bell Fruit SCPA Open /
Inter County Finals 1999 /
Suffolk Ladies Shield
England Trials /
Ireland Championship /
County Rankings & Match Reports 1999
1999 saw Suffolk Ladies as the Regional winner and for the eighth time since
1990 qualified to play in the All England Inter-County Pool Finals at Vauxhall
Holiday Park, Great Yarmouth. The Suffolk Ladies’ Team, Captained by Haley Harding,
comprised Valerie Adams, Karen Andrews, Angie Smith, Donna Green, Lynne Moore,
Leah Willett, Clare Seaman, Zanya Archer, Kim O’Brien, Deb Pullen, Vikki Layton,
Carly Smith and Norma Nagle. Click on photo for a larger image (40k)
and a match report.
Suffolk County Juniors had five representatives endeavouring to qualify for the England Youth Team; namely Stephen Lish, Mark Keeble, Paul Keeble, George Barker and Dewi Evans. During the course of the competition some superb pool being played on the day, saw the field gradually being whittled down to the final selection stages whereby eight players were needed for the England Squad. From the high number of players attending these qualifiers, two Suffolk juniors reached to qualify as England Team Squad players, these being Stephen Lish and Paul Keeble.
Congratulations to both these young men on a super achievement and all credit to the other Suffolk youngsters for their efforts. The England Youth Team Manager, Les Church, made a point of speaking to the County Secretary to say how he had been particularly impressed with the Suffolk players, both in their ability to play the game and the professional image they presented.
Suffolk’s next County fixture is a home game against Cambridgeshire, the 1999 Region Champions on Sunday 9 April.
The National Junior Individual Championships were held at Chatham Pool Club, Kent, over the weekend of November 20th and 21st 1999. Youngsters from all over the UK took part with Suffolk under 18’s entering 9 players:
The format used to produce the final 32 players, for the knock-out event on the Sunday, was the modified Swiss system in which each player was given four lives with each match the best of 7 frames.
All Suffolk players performed well until the closing stages of the first day when four players made it through to the final 32. During the knock-out stages, fine pool was played by everyone with Mark Keeble and Stephen Lish eventually winning through to the last 8 and earning themselves automatic entry into the England Trials early next near.
The quarter final draw saw the one draw no Suffolk player wanted at this stage, when both Suffolk players were drawn against each other. In a very closely fought match (the best of 9 frames) Stephen Lish emerged the victor over Mark Keeble by 5 frames to 4.
In the semi-final, Stephen was drawn against England International, Sunny Singh. This was always going to be a difficult game but Stephen rose to the occasion to win by 6 frames to 3 to put him into the final.
In the other matches, Andrew Brean from London emerged to be the other finalist and the stage was set for a fantastic final. Andrew got off to a flying start to open up a 4-0 lead (in the best of 13 eliminator). This obviously shook Stephen a little but he kept his cool to pull the match back to 4-3. An even more exciting prospect was about to take place. Andrew won the next frame to lead 5-3. Stephen pulled one back to make it 5-4. Andrew regained a 2 frame lead by winning the next to lead 6 frames to 4. Stephen then roared back to win the next 2 frames to make it 6 frames apiece. The final frames saw Stephen take the break only to leave an open table from which Andrew took his chances to clinch the frame and the National Junior Individual title by 7 frames to 6 frames and in so doing guaranteed him automatic entry into the England Team.
No Suffolk player had ever got so far before and all credit to Stephen for this exceptional achievement.
Suffolk Youth Team Manager, Mike Collins, was very pleased for all the Suffolk players but special congratulations to Stephen on his performance.
England Youth Team Manager, Les Church, congratulated Suffolk for their effort and support and wished the Team well for the future. Special mention and praise was given by Les to Suffolk player Leah Willett who was the only lady player to enter the Championship and who as a result of her performances has been invited back down to Kent to play against some of the England Ladies Team players at the end of the month.
Congratulations to the former World Champion Carl Morris on winning
the 1999 Bell Fruit SCPA Open pool competition. The competition took
place on the weekend of 30 July - 1 August and Carl took
away a cool £1000. Carl Morris (left) receives the trophy from
Robbie Williams from the Premier Pool Club. Click on photo
for additional pictures and a match report including last 16
results, plus details of other competitions on the same weekend.
Congratulations to the Suffolk Men's A Team for coming top in the 1998
Region 4 Inter-County League. This meant that they were able to compete in the
National Inter-County Finals at Great Yarmouth on 12-14 April 1999.
After an excellent performance, they eventually came runners-up to
Devon. The team consisted of Tony Holgate, Dave Pickess, Alan Mower,
Sam Bemment, Darren Mitchell, Richard Sweny, Chris Day, Richard Kear,
Steve Kane, Phil Dyer and Kevin Byford. Click on photo for a larger image (46k)
and a match report.
1998 saw the Suffolk Ladies' team reach the finals and after a
valiant battle, they eventually came runners-up to London Ladies.
Click on photo for a larger image (36k).
Sandy Last and Vikki Layton pose next to the ladies shield after each having
beaten off all opposition to reach the finals of this prestigious competition.
The competition is played each year and entry is restricted to County players who
were part of the County team during the previous year. On this occasion, it was Vikki
who finally took the trophy. Click on photo for a larger image (33k).
Five Suffolk Ladies, Alex Roper, Debbie Pullen, Clare Seaman,
Hayley Harding and Carly Smith (not on photo) qualified for the
England Trials by finishing in the top 15 of the regional rankings.
Suffolk captain Hayley, Clare and Carly successfully made the England
squad meaning Suffolk now has five International Ladies including
Vikki Layton and Kim O'Brien who play for Ireland. Kim qualified for
Ireland recently after winning the all Ireland Championship. Two of the
Suffolk Men also went for England trials, Alan Mower and Dave Pickess, but unfortunately they
were unsuccessful on this occasion. Click on photo for a larger image (20k).
Suffolk player Kim O’Brien has won the championships at her first attempt and secured a place on the Irish Ladies national team to play in the World Championships, Home Internationals and European Championships.
Kim was highly delighted when she won as it means she doesn’t have to go back for the trials.
18 players took part in the Irish event with O’Brien who lives in Bury St Edmunds winning her first three matches without losing a frame. In the semi-finals she comfortably beat Siobhan Woodhouse 5-2. In the final she faced Sandra Fitz-Patrick a semi-finalist last year. Kim said it was the most pressure and nerves she has ever felt in a pool competition as there was so much riding on that match. Sandra went 2-0 up but O’Brien found her form to win the next seven frames to take the title.
The title has been held for the past two years by Kim’s Suffolk County Pool Team mate Vikki Layton, who is also captain of the national team.
Vikki had to miss the competition through her nephew’s Christening, but Vikki is absolutely delighted that Kim’s made the team. "She’s a great player and a very good friend of mine and I know she will be a great asset to the team."
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