Match write-up for 16th/17th August

'Jesters round off the season in style!’

The featured YouTube Live-stream match this week, 16th August, saw the Court Jesters wind up the first season of the PWR Jet Wednesday League tonight with a resounding victory against the Parkway team. Jesters top-of-the-table status was already confirmed in the penultimate match last week and this week was really now about who topped the averages table. The match itself was won for the Jesters by frame 9, with Amanda Lethbridge taking the solitary frame for Parkway. John Roe took his last two consolation frames for the Parkway, which also saw him top out as the highest in the averages for the Parkway team however, with Andy Bunton winning the 15th and very last frame of this season for the Jesters with a ‘break & dish’, this comfortable win for the Jesters saw them finish the season as Champions. It also saw its captain Ady Bonsor and team-mate Mick Defraine  finish tied at the top of the averages in the league overall. Parkway finished the season in 6th position.

Court Snapbacks confirmed their runners-up position for the season against Court At The Bar. Snapbacks however didn’t have it all their own way in the first two sessions with the match being all-square at 5-5 going into the last. Wanting themselves to also finish off the season in style, the Snapbacks made no mistake by taking the last 4 of 5 frames with Sean Hackett confirming the win in the 14th frame, which also saw him placed highest in the averages for the Snapbacks team. Court At The Bar finished in 7th position, with James Bennett finishing top of the averages within the Court At The Bar team.

It was always going to be an uphill task for the Postie Pats to lift themselves off the bottom of the table going into the last game of the season when hosting PSL Aint Going Down. The PSL team took the first session 3-2 only for the Pats to then repeat the same score-line in the second, all square going in to the final session. Advantage then swung back in the direction of PSL by winning 4 of the last 5 frames, with Tony Clark taking the all important 13th frame. This win sees PSL placing 5th as a final position in the table and, Kris Lord topping out as highest in the averages for the PSL team. Postie Pats finished foot of the table but this season’s finale also saw Martyn Allen finish highest in the averages for the Postie Pats team.

Court Kids rounded off the season with a very good win against Court Gimme A Break. The kids started off strongly with a 4-1 first session win. They also took the second session leaving Gimme A Break the unenviable task of needing to win all of the remaining 5 frames going into the last session. The 11th frame however, saw young Tyler Clues dash the hopes of the Gimme A Break team by securing the win for the Kids and, with both teams then sharing the spoils of the last 4 frames, this match sees the Kids, despite only winning 4 matches across the season, finish in 4th position overall with Joe Haywood top of the averages within the Kids team. Court Gimme A Break finished in 3rd position in the table with Beckie Watkins finishing 3rd overall in the leagues averages.

‘Silver stay strong whilst facing the Lions!’

With the Stanground Carpets & Flooring Thursday League being still a few short weeks away from finishing, the 17th August saw league ‘business as usual’. Crosskeys Silver welcomed the PSL Lions team and at one frame a-piece, things were looking steady enough for the Lions team however, Silver then really cranked it up and showed exactly why they are vying for top spot in the table. By taking the next 8 frames in a row, including the match winning frame in the 9th by Tony Brown, this was now about ‘damage limitation’ for the Lions. They did start to stage a mini come-back by taking two frames in a row through Dave Clark and Anthony Magnus going into the last session however, it was all too little too late -Silver rubber-stamped the match by taking the last 3 frames leaving them with a very comfortable win keeping them in 2nd spot in the table and still keeping tabs on the top spot. The Lions are still rooted to the foot of the table with an uphill task in trying to lift themselves off.

An ‘all Court’ affair saw Gold take on the Cops and, this convincing win for Gold sees them keep 2nd placed Crosskeys Silver at bay in the overall table. Gold’s Ben Bushby secured the win as early on as the 9th frame, preceded by Andy Bunton’s ‘break & dish’ in the 8th and, while Glenn Cripps and Craig Harbisher took two more consolation frames late on for the Cops, Court Gold did as much as they could to keep as much daylight between them in 1st spot and the rest of the chasing pack. The Cops remain in 7th spot, albeit tied on points with the Heron Warlords in 6th.

Court Posties took the trek across the City to the Heron Warlords. Prior to this match, both teams were only 4 points apart in the lower half of the table but all that was about to change. Carl Rands for the Warlords won the match as early on as the 9th frame, with Graham Tilley also putting away a ‘break & dish’ – the Posties picking up a single frame through Aaron Clark by this point. Going into the final session and with the match already lost for the Posties, it was another straight forward affair with the Warlords taking four of the last five frames – again, with Aaron Clark picking up another single frame for the Posties. This convincing win for the Warlords sees them move up the table to 6th but also sees no change in table position for the Posties remaining in 8th spot.

The final match this week was about as close and ‘nip & tuck’ as any match could possibly be which saw Bluebell R Back hosting Quinns Muppets. In a nutshell, advantage swung one way and then the other with never more than one frame in it. It took right up until the very last 15th and deciding frame to finally find an overall winner. Up stepped Luke Watkins for the Bluebell team and Len Donnelly for the Muppets with the former, just nicking it for Bluebell in the end. A very close run thing throughout which leaves Bluebell still mid-table in 5th and the Muppets just above them in 4th spot, albeit still with some considerable daylight between them both.

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