Willie Thorne's Open Series - Event 4 (April 2008)

[NS Admin]

BAD LIGHT STOPS PLAY

SEABRIDGE EXTENDS LEAD

P.B?s for Bradford lads

Just as April?s Open Series final at Willie Thorne?s was due to take place all the table lights failed in the club so the match between Potteries pair Simon Seabridge and Liam Highfield had to be abandoned.

By reaching his 3rd final of the series Seabridge extends his lead at the top of the rankings to over a 100 points, Highfield in his 1st event enters the rankings in 9th place from the 63 players who have so far taken part ? 30 in the latest event.

To reach the final Seabridge again progressed in the losers half of the draw after being beaten by veteran Mike Smith 4-2 the rankings leader defeated Jamie Acs 4-0 and young Tom Kerslake 4-3 who led 3-0 with breaks of 43 and 51.

In the quarter finals Seabridge 2-0 adrift to Andy Brett again fought back to win 3-2 Brett had played very well in the previous round making breaks of 79,68 and 63 to beat Gary Steele 4-0 finally Seabridge crushed local player Sameer Knight 3-0.

Knight who reached the Under 17 final the previous day had beaten club mate Matt Jelley 3-2 in the last four as Jelley the elder went in off the black.

Highfield edged Kerslake 4-3 in the 1st round then cruised through the rest of his matches beating Paul Vyze 4-0 breaks of 53 and 51, impressive new name Joe Steele, Stoke,15, 3-1 who had beaten last months finalist Steve Martin 4-3 in the last round.

Highfield whitewashed Gareth Green 3-0 breaks of 66 and 54 and travelling companion Mike Smith 3-0, Smith having beaten Joe Jogia 3-2 in the last eight.

Danny Brindle won the plate beating Matt Steeper 2-0, Steeper made the days highest break earlier in the event a 114.

Green and Wilks personal bests
Gareth Green, 17, made his first match century 108 in the final frame of a 4-3 win over Luke Higginbotham missing the green and car companion Damian Wilks,16 who won the previous day?s Under 17?s at the first attempt upped his best break to 86.

Next Event Sunday May 4th 11am.

Malcolm Thorne

Quarter finals ?20 ? 30 points
M.Smith (Stoke) 60 bt 71,74 J.Jogia (Leicester) 3-2
L.Highfield (Stoke) 66,54 bt G.Green (Bradford) 3-0
S.Knight (Leicester) bt M.Jelley (Leicester) 3-2
S.Seabridge (Stoke) bt A.Brett (Birmingham) 3-2

Semi finals ?35 ? 45 points
Highfield bt Smith 3-0 & Seabridge bt Knight 3-0

Final ?75 each ? 70 points each
Highfield/Seabridge

Plate
Semi finals ?25 ? 7 points
D.Brindle (Bedford) 52 bt J.Lockett (Stoke) 2-0
M.Steeper (Scunthorpe) bt J.Jelley (Leicester) 2-1

Final ?50/?35 15/10 points
Brindle bt Steeper 2-0

Top 32 after 4th Event (End of series top 32 to Grand Finals ? Winner ?500)
1(1) S.Seabridge 237, 2(3) J.Jogia 138, 3(2) S.Martin 132, 4(7) S.Knight 121,
5(4) C.Leake 100, 6(6) K.Willetts 98, 7(5) M.Wilson 80, 8(8) Wayne Holbrook 71,
9(-) L.Highfield 70, 10(10) A.Bratton 66, 11(11) S.Mooney 64, 12(23) G.Green 60,
13(20) G.Brindle 59, 14(15) J.Lockett 55, 15(19) M.Steeper 54, 16(16) J.Jelley 54,
17(9) J.Bates 54, 18(21) L.Higginbotham 49, 19(17) A.Booth 48, 20(12) K.Yates 48,
21(24) D.wilks 47, 22(13) I.Burns 47, 23(14) A.Bobat 46, 24(-) M.Smith 45,
25(35) S.Harvey 33, 26(-) A.Brett 32, 27(-) M.Jelley 32, 28(18) B.Woollaston 32,
29(49) T.Kerslake 31, 30(43) J.Acs 30, 31(30) A.Proudman 30, 32(25) M.Slattery 30.