Hastings & Bexhill Bar Billiards league

Jenny B set up thrilling finale as the Ash book place in final
Sunday 11th May
The Jenny Lind B have set up a thrilling end to the season after they defeated the reigning champions the Old King John 4-1, the result means the game between the Cutter B and the Jenny Lind B will be winner takes all.  In group A the Ashburnham Arms have booked their spot in the final after a 5-0 win at home to the Jenny Lind A.
Jenny Lind B 4 Old King John 1 - Report by Steve Astley
The Jenny Lind B team played host to the Old King John this week.  In the first game Roger kicked off for the OKJ but failed to bother the score board to any great degree. Alex replied with a 2k break. Roger got back to the break on his forth visit but once again failed to capitalise on his chance and Alex came back with another 2K break giving himself an impressive lead. What remained of the  20 minutes played out with small breaks by both players leaving Alex to comfortably take the first one for the Jenny without needing his handicap.  Next up Rob didn’t start well for the Jenny and Chris wiped out his handicap on his first visit. Chris dominated throughout most of the game and although Rob did get the break back and nearly caught up in the end Chris took the game for the OKJ.  In the third game Mark started for the OKJ but Steve gradually caught up as time went along and a 1K break for Steve half way through put him in the lead and he took a second victory for the Jenny B.  The forth contest was between Jez (JLB) and Andy (OKJ). Jez started with an impressive 4K break wiping out the handicap. Andy managed to pull up close behind Jez with his first visit and then it turned into a game of cat and mouse. Eventually the game seemed to hinge on who could move a tricky ball stuck just in front of the 10 hole. Jez managed it and got back to the break from where he sailed on to triumph.  With both teams being a player short a draw was taken for the last battle. Mark broke off for the OKJ and Alex returned for the JLB. This one seemed a lot closer than tonight’s other clashes until finally it looked like Alex had clinched it as he built a 1K break just before the bar fell only to lose it to a peg. It all came down to the final ball. Mark needed the 200 hole for the win but couldn’t find it and Alex sunk the ball into the 100 to make the final score Jenny Lind B 4, Old King John 1.
Ashburnham Arms 5 Jenny Lind A 0 - Report by Ray Norton
An awayday at the Ashburnham for Jenny A team in the Rix cup. The draw was made between Ray Norton and Dave Pearce.  First up was Sandy Harmer Vs Jimmy Sullivan, who had one eye on the Arsenal match. Jimmy started and managed to not make the break shot count, and then Sandy opened up with a massive 5360 break, and at no point did it look like he was struggling for position. Jimmy had a brief come back and managed to get a small break, and then Sandy took over again, and then scored over 2k. Jimmy disheartened by this stage, and with Arsenal losing was not able to make any headway against Sandy’s massive advantage, and finally Jimmy Black pegged in an attempt to close slightly, whilst Sandy calmly finished in the 100 hole.  Next up was Leigh vs away Captain Ray Norton. Not for the first time on the night, the away players were falling foul of rogue pegs or bad luck and by about ½ way Leigh was nearly 2k ahead and Ray was ion zero, having managed to lose an encouraging break to a wayward peg on a simple 50/100 shot losing over 1.2k. That was followed by losing 700 odd to a missed split shot, and Ray eventually managed to get on the score card, but by the time the bar dropped Leigh’s dependable and consistent scoring to build his lead, was too much.  Next up was Dave White against Matt Jones. Matt’s normal dependable break was absent and Dave worked his way into the lead, with small scores but he kept them, whilst Matt was losing any attempts at scoring. Dave then amassed a 2k break and whilst Matt eventually managed to tame the table, the lead was again too great to be overcome.  After the excellent half time Pizza’s from the new van outside, next up was Dave Pearce against Andrew. Yet again, the away team failed miserably to make any sensible scores on the table whilst Dave scored a number of nearly 1000 breaks, which was weird considering his 200 point advantage. Andrew in common with the rest of the team started to make headway towards the second half, but yet again was unable to catch the home player.  Paul Wickens was last up against Mick Osbourne, and yet again Paul did not manage any significant break and Mick stepped up initially lost a 1k break, but on the next attempt, he slammed in a 5.2 k break, Paul was joining the rest of the away team in struggling with the table, so that was very strange, Mick and Paul shared some small scores until the final bar released the away team from their suffering. We could not understand how we could not get on with the table, as normally we have quite close matches.  Final score was a well deserved 5-0 to the Ashburnham.
Scores