Hastings & Bexhill Bar Billiards league

Ash and OKJ start Rix Cup with wins
Sunday 13th April
The Ashburnham Arms and the Old King John started their Rix Cup campaigns with wins, the holders the Old King John secured an impressive 3-2 win at the Cutter B, meanwhile the Ashburnham Arms beat the Cutter A 4-1 at home.
Ashburnham Arms 4 Cutter A 1 - Report by Sandy Harmer.
Mick started brightly and quickly caught up his handicap deficit, Chris struggled to get going and Mick looked to take advantage only to miss a ball on a 1500 break. Mick took advantage on his next attempt with a 1300 break to take the lead this proved to be crucial as Chris started to get going just as the bar went as Mick took the frame. The second game started similar to the first, Alex struggled to get going but Dave managed in small breaks to go level, Dave scrapped throughout to build a decent lead that meant he won the game to make it 2-0. The home side made it 3-0 as Sandy Harmer defeated Tom Pope, Tom started brightly and added 800 to his advantage, Sandy came back with a 4k break which saw him just take the lead but a few small breaks when the balls were up the back of the table gave Sandy the advantage as he got the break back and added a further thousand to ensure of the win for the Ash. Home captain Dave Pearce had the huge advantage against Colin Southouse and furthered his lead with his opening break, Colin lost a 2k break but soon found himself with the break but came off with 2k, it wasn't Colin's night as he couldn't get going, Dave gathered himself and ended the frame with a lovely 2k break to seal the win even without the help of the handicap. The away side got themselves on the board as Peter Payne beat Dave White, Dave got himself level midway through the game but a decent break from Pete put him just ahead of Dave which Dave didn't take advantage of and Pete took the frame as the Ash won 4-1 but without the handicap it would've been a clean sweep.
Cutter B 2 Old King John 3 - Report by Andy Ellison
The Rix Cup competition began this week under handicap rules. Holders Old King John were a little apprehensive about their visit to Cutter B, having lost there in the regular League season. Their anxieties were relieved somewhat when Andy settled well in the first game. He started with a 1k break which ate into Jay's handicap advantage. This was furthered when Jay lost his opener to a peg. Andy consolidated with a break of 2860 which effectively ended the contest, although Jay never gave up and reached 2k by the end. However Cutter B came back strongly in the next two games. Nigel for OKJ didn't come to terms with the table and Sam built on his handicap advantage with a break of 2890, putting him well ahead. His winning margin was enough to give him the win regardless of the handicap advantage. Dave for Cutter forged ahead against Roger in the third, with handicap advantage also. It was late in the game before Roger summoned his response and a break of 3650 put him within striking distance of Dave's total, but the bar fell before he could complete the chase. This was the only game of the evening where the handicap advantage proved decisive for the winner.  After the break Chris started well for OKJ whilst Joe struggled to hold on to his scores. Chris didn't manage to make a large break but did more than enough to outscore Joe's handicap advantage before Joe took a black peg at the end. With the match score at 2-2 the final pairing saw Phil with a 300 advantage over Mark for OKJ, the smallest of the match. Appropriately this proved the tightest of games. There was little to choose between them as it progressed but Mark built a lead towards the end. Phil was on a decent break when the bar intervened and the balls disappeared more quickly than he wanted. Mark did well to achieve the win that swung the result in favour of OKJ in a match that showed the benefits of the handicap system on a varied and enjoyable evening.
Scores