A bright sunny day, with lawns looking and playing well, greeted the semi finalists for the Prebendal Manor Cup, our internal AC Handicap competition.
On Court 1, Brian Jamieson took an early 4-2 lead against Peter Allan, but was eventually overwhelmed 18-6. Brian was still recovering from a significant operation on one hand, but made no excuses – it wasn’t his day. In the other semi-final, Claire King used all but two of her many bisques in her initial break to take a 10-0 lead against husband Joe (the first time they’d played competitively at Blewbury: they’d once met about 25 years ago at Caversham). She got another chance when Joe played the wrong ball, but otherwise his play was solid; once she was out of bisques, the match rapidly slid away from Claire. A score of 18-12 gave Joe a confident overture for the final.
But Peter has only lost one AC match since the start of August (to High Wycombe’s Richard Peperell), wins that included defeating Joe in level play in the Founders Cup. With a two bisque cushion, he had cause for optimism in the 26 point showdown. Joe won the toss and went first. Playing the fourth ball, his first shot with yellow, Peter used a bisque to set up a break that took it round to the peg. Joe had only played each of his balls once and he was 0-12 down. A intelligent leave challenged him to hit in from a distance: when the long roquet missed, he never got another chance.
Remarkably Peter played most of his second break with three balls, only picking up Joe’s black from the yard-line as a pioneer when he reached three back. Using his second bisque to avert a breakdown, he completed his merciless 26-0 rout in little over an hour. So it’s the big triple for Peter, who also won the GC level play Championship. Don’t expect an AC handicap reduction to +1/2 to be much comfort to future opponents. Very well done indeed, Peter.