AMATEUR BILLIARDS CIRCUIT

Maltings Q Club, Kings Lynn

Sunday 9th December 2001

To draw your travelling companion at an ABC is bad enough, when
that player is of the standard of Neal Rewhorn it makes you wonder
if that early Sunday morning alarm call was really necessary! That is
the fate which befell Richie Evans in the preliminary round at Kings
Lynn – but with all his usual charm and good grace, Richie picked out
the balls on the receiving end of a 325-111 scoreline including a run of
109 from Neal. Lee Lagan served notice of his intentions for the day
with breaks of 281 & 208 during his impressive performance against
Les Chapman. Other highlights of the round were a century from Brian
Harvey and single figure points wins for David Rees & John Smith over
Martin Phillips & Michael Donnelly respectively.

The match of the first round was undoubtedly the meeting of Lee Lagan
and current No.1 ranked ABC player Jim McCann. Based on early
breaks of 67 & 52, Jim skilful defended his lead to record his third
win against Lee in as many seasons. Gracious in defeat Lee acknowledged
how well Jim had played and commented on how tough an opponent
he is. Neal Rewhorn continued his good form with a 315-179 victory
over Steve Crosland. David Nichols produced a devastating display of
potting included in his two centuries and three 50+ breaks in his 454-99
mauling of Paul Dunning.

In the second round, John Hartley produced arguably his best ever
result in ousting Lee Lagan’s conqueror Jim McCann by 261-180. Darren
Kell and Phil Welham continued to make smooth progress. Theirs was
a close game which saw Basingstoke’s David Burgess pip David Nichols
297-268, while the West Country derby resulted in a 297-274 victory
for Bill Andress over Brian Harvey.

John Hartley continued his progress with a narrow win over Norman
Routledge in the quarter-finals. Darren Kell produced consistent scoring
in his comfortable victory over Phil Welham. David Burgess continued
his own good run with a win over Tony James in a high scoring encounter.
Darren Kell effectively sealed his semi-final encounter against John
Hartley with an early visit which produced a run of 173. John
acknowledged how well Darren had played but stated that he was
delighted with his own performance in reaching what was his first ever
ABC semi-final. David Burgess maintained the high level of performance

he had displayed all day in his 295-199 win over David Rees.

In the final, neither player produced the level of play of which they are
capable. Burgess, who was now into his fifth hour of play, looked
visibly tired, and Kell had played for an hour longer during the course
of the day. Having already displayed high levels of skill in previous
matches the final was a slight anti-climax in which Kell “outstayed”
Burgess to record a 243-202 victory. The game was refereed by Mr
Harry Wah.

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