The following will be appearing in a Balllsmania near you very soon. (it may be too late for this week.)

COMPETITION FINALS DAY ROUND-UP

Another record crowd at the Cherry Tree Function Room Arena was treated to some top class pool in the Calverton & Arnold end of season Finals Day, where the cream of Notts pool talent (and some other players) were on show. As Sky television were unavailable to attend, the events were this year recorded by Trent FM and the highlights are to be broadcast on Wednesday 2nd September straight after Graham Torrington’s Late Night Love Show.

The day kicked off with the Ladies Singles with a line up consisting of seven times previous winner, Kirsty Corns, Nottinghamshire County Junior craptain, Demi Singleton-Barber and County Ladies over 65’s star, Pam Turner. There should obviously have been four players on show but Claire Moore had arranged a holiday for the same day as Finals Day for the sixth time in eight years so giving one lucky qualifier a bye to the final. Demi duly received the all important bye and this gave her more time for canoodling in the corner with her new beau, Mark Singlenot, where at one point it looked more like a scene from their favourite show, Holyoaks.

The semi final got underway between Kirsty and Pam and it was evident from the start that Kirsty, struggling with a throat infection, was not playing to her usual standard and despite a valiant attempt to keep herself in the game, it was to no avail and Pam’s steady game saw her through to her first major final in fifty years of trying, with a 3-0 win. The final itself was nearly just as one-sided with Pam’s obviously vast experience taking her into a two frame lead. Demi did hit back in the next to win her first frame of the whole competition but there was no stopping Mrs Malc and she took the next frame to secure her first ever title and entry into next year’s Ladies Champion Of Champions at Great Yarmouth.

Next up was supposed to be the Captains and Secretaries competition, however when the games got underway, the standard on show made it obvious to every spectator present, that the organisers had sneakily swapped the event for a Ladies Pairs competition. That said, Dale Nix and Harry Lowe did well to come back from 2-0 down to beat unlucky debutants, Keith Simm, who took some consolation in winning the Best Turned Out In The Paddock award and Malc Reilly, to reach their first final and in the other semi final, Andy Simons and Mick Stevenson were narrowly beaten, in a scrappy affair, to end their hopes of a second successive final appearance. The final was something of a damp squib but without the flamboyance of last year’s winners, Trev Chambers and Tosh Ledgard or the all-round skills of ten-time champions, Tony Wyatt and Rob Taylor, this was always likely to be the case. In the end, despite a brave effort by Dale and Harry, cheered on by a partisan crowd, they could not gain the upper hand over their opponents and eventually lost 3-1.

The next competition was the “Need A Taxi? Call Alert Cars 9 400 400” Singles, the Blue Ribband event of the day and the line-up on show at the due start time was Tony Wyatt, Corey Blackshaw and Simon Thompson. However Ashley Radford lived up to his billing of Donut by arranging to represent England Junior Hairstylists in a friendly “Cut-off” against a Rest Of The Coiffures World team at Leicester the same day and, after arriving 45 minutes late, had to forfeit his first leg against Calverton & Arnold Interleague star, Simon Thompson. Tommo went on to win the next two legs to secure a place in his first Tuesday final. On the other table, Corey, who always reaches the final if the year ends in a 9, was on fire and in a high quality match against two-time winner, Tony Wyatt, Corey ran out a 3-1 winner. The final turned out to be a classic, with Simon Thompson racing into a 3-0 lead with some classy play but Corey hit back, squaring the match to set up a last leg decider. In the end Tommo held his nerve and one fabulous clearance later he was crowned Champion Pool Player Of The Year.

The Pairs semi finals saw Ian Owen and Boring Blackshaw up against Tony Guy and Tony Wyatt but despite winning the first frame, the Netherfield/Gedling pairing never seemed to get to grips with wearing trousers and were eventually easily beaten 3-1. The other semi final saw Chris Rigby and Loz Sanderson beat Victory Club’s Chris Winson and an out of sorts, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall without dropping a leg to set up the expected final. In the end, a couple of missed opportunities by the Cherry Tree duo cost them dearly and the Peperami Kid and Cue Chucker Loz won their second Pairs title.

The 3 Man final saw a Cherry Tree A team made up of Tony Wyatt, Phil Oliver, Kim Hodgkinson and Corey Blackshaw taking on reigning champions, the Spot On B team, consisting of Nidge Orton, Malc Growbags, Dolly Dymock and star man and Calverton & Arnold Interleague star, Danny Butler. The game was neck and neck early on but eventually the Cherry Tree boys and girl took command and ran out 5-2 winners to cap another memorable Finals Day in Calverton, where the packed throngs at the Arena had been served up a positive pool treat all day long and made their way home asking yet again “Can any other League really compete with how the Calverton & Arnold guys do it?” Indeed.



Finals Day/Week Results

Singles
Winner: Simon Thompson
Runner Up: Corey Blackshaw

Ladies Singles
Winner: Pam Turner
Runner Up: Demi Barber

Captains & Secretaries
Winners: David Clarke & Adrian Newman
Runners Up: Dale Nix & Harry Lowe

Pairs
Winners: Chris Rigby & Loz Sanderson
Runners Up: Tony Guy & Tony Wyatt

3 Man Team
Winners: The Posh (Cherry Tree A)
Runners Up: Chimps FC (Spot On B)

Mixed Pairs
Winners: Vicky Wyatt & Tony Wyatt
Runners Up: Kelly Hall & Rob Taylor

Averages Final
Winner: Dean Dymock
Runner Up: Steve Hotchkiss

8 Ball Trophy
Winner: Andy Leese
Runner Up: Tony Wyatt  

--Last edited by Tantric Trev on 2009-08-24 14:09:21 --