Well, the first part of our mission is now complete. Once we got over the early season wobble against the Thatched Cottage, we opened our legs and showed our class, pulling away in the final few games of the season.
Trailing TC with three games to go, we managed to 'pull the persuader' in the final furlong. Once we had been 'given the office' it was plain sailing. The most peculiar result of the season was that the Thatched almost didn't qualify after being beaten 7-5 by WAMDSAD in the final game!! The other 'major' result in the final week was that the Pond House managed to defeat Forresters 7-5 and take their division.
Confusion broke out at season end when the results and team averages were published with the wrong averages. Instead of being worked out on each teams final points total, they were worked out on the number of frames won. This meant the Thatched B were out altogether (hence the delay in getting the scores out to you all) until the error was noticed and corrected.
Now, assuming there are no surprises sprung by the committee (and in my experience it wouldn't surprise me) the top ranked teams were as follows:
1 Racks
2 Bell BAPL (the Bapto crowd from Bracknell)
3 Pond House (our Irish club boys)
4 Racks Pack (wallop!)
5 Forresters
6 Thatch A (Dogs Walton, Steve Adams, Lol, John Molley)
7 Thatch B (the cheese from our league)
8 NMCC/Cookham SC
The last place looks like being a play-off between North Maidenhead Cricket Club and Cookham Social, both of whom finished with the same averages. It just goes to show how every frame every week can be crucial - we managed to be ranked fourth overall after winning just three more frames than the Forresters.
The quarters come out like this:
Racks v NMCC/Cookham SC
Racks Pack v Forresters
Bell BAPL v Thatch B
Pond House v Thatch A
I think we picked up the best of the draw. The Forrester are good but I didn't want to be playing the Pond House (for obvious reasons) or the other Racks side.
The draw should feed through to the semis, so if (when) we win we will play the winner of the Racks versus NMCC/Cookham SC game - again, I think is the better of the two draws as we avoid BAPL. I think they are the strongest side.
Im not sure if it's neutral venues for the quarters - hopefully not as both the Racks teams are at home which would be a good atmosphere. The date for the games is Monday the 2nd October with both the semi finals and final the week after at The Bell.
If I get sometime whilst going to and fro from Germany I will try and organise a bit of a practice/drink session before the quarters for anyone interested. I will mail you all or ring around to see who fancies it.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Week 10 - Results & Final Tables
Week 10 Results
18-Sept-06
Thatch B 5 WAMDSAD 7
Racks Pack 9 Farmers Boy 3
Bell [bye]
TABLE
played (won) points
Racks Pack (8) 91
Thatch B (8) 76
Bell B (8) 50
Farmers Boy (8) 48
WAMDSAD (8) 34
TEAM AVERAGES
Brad Robinson 11/12 (91.6%)
Lee Greenwood 9/10 (90.0%)
Andy Treadwell 11/13 (84.6%)
John "I'm off then" Young 11/13 (84.6%)
Neil Cameron 9/12 (75.0%)
Kevin Southam 10/14 (71.4%)
Keith "Who?" Walls 7/10 (70%)
Mark Swann 5/13 (38.4%)
CHAMPIONS
A win was all that was required to ensure the league title came our way. Even without our captain Keith and a hospital-bound Andy Treadwell, playing the Farmers Boy at home is the kind of easy match we needed! Or was it...?
Captains Report
Kevin Southam
I guess we all know by now that we got the win we needed to secure the league title! But who was the wheat and who was the chaff for our final; league game of the season?
Things didnt start well - Andy pulled out suffering from an ear infection. With Keith in Germany and Brad working, we were down to five! An urgent call was put out for players and it was duly anwered by Mr Robinson - he would come donw, play his two frames, and leave.
The duty of getting us off on the good foot usually falls to Andy, but in his absence JY stepped up to the plate. He stuttered a little but never really looked in any danger. 1-0.
After Neil had secured his first frame, Brad was up for a double header and promptly rattled off his two wins in under ten minutes. Thanks for coming - 4-0
After Lee put in his customary grinding win (5-0) it was up to Swanny and myself to fudge things up.
Slugger Southam up first and, despite a well controlled game, I missed a difficult final black and Maltese Joe Farmers Lad pulled off the kind of five ball clearance where you think he is going to trip up on every ball. He didn't. 5-1
Swanny once again showed that he can do no right at the moment. If there is some bad luck to be had he is having it. 5-2
Having already played the first game of the second half (Brads secind game) we continued to play right through.
JY did his usual trick of potting six balls in one visit then taking another twenty to pot the last two! He eventually secured the win, and promptly cemented his 'shoot-and-leaves' reputation by leaving us to it! 6-2
I won my frame, followed by Swanny securing his double doughnut for the night (oo). 7-3
All that was left Lee to win his final frame, and Neil to show he is human after all and losing his, and the victory was complete, and the league was ours! 8-4
No contenders for pointless flair shot of the week this week, so instead I will take this opportunity to thank Brad for coming up with the goods in our hour of need, and vote him my "player of the night" with two frame wins that further proved how easy the game looks when you are watching good players.
Captains Report
Kevin Southam
I guess we all know by now that we got the win we needed to secure the league title! But who was the wheat and who was the chaff for our final; league game of the season?
Things didnt start well - Andy pulled out suffering from an ear infection. With Keith in Germany and Brad working, we were down to five! An urgent call was put out for players and it was duly anwered by Mr Robinson - he would come donw, play his two frames, and leave.
The duty of getting us off on the good foot usually falls to Andy, but in his absence JY stepped up to the plate. He stuttered a little but never really looked in any danger. 1-0.
After Neil had secured his first frame, Brad was up for a double header and promptly rattled off his two wins in under ten minutes. Thanks for coming - 4-0
After Lee put in his customary grinding win (5-0) it was up to Swanny and myself to fudge things up.
Slugger Southam up first and, despite a well controlled game, I missed a difficult final black and Maltese Joe Farmers Lad pulled off the kind of five ball clearance where you think he is going to trip up on every ball. He didn't. 5-1
Swanny once again showed that he can do no right at the moment. If there is some bad luck to be had he is having it. 5-2
Having already played the first game of the second half (Brads secind game) we continued to play right through.
JY did his usual trick of potting six balls in one visit then taking another twenty to pot the last two! He eventually secured the win, and promptly cemented his 'shoot-and-leaves' reputation by leaving us to it! 6-2
I won my frame, followed by Swanny securing his double doughnut for the night (oo). 7-3
All that was left Lee to win his final frame, and Neil to show he is human after all and losing his, and the victory was complete, and the league was ours! 8-4
No contenders for pointless flair shot of the week this week, so instead I will take this opportunity to thank Brad for coming up with the goods in our hour of need, and vote him my "player of the night" with two frame wins that further proved how easy the game looks when you are watching good players.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Week 9 - Results & Tables
Week 9 Results
11-Sept-06
WAMDSAD 2 Racks Packs 10
Thatch 9 Bell B 3
Farmers Boy [bye]
TABLE
Played (won) points
Racks Pack (7) 80
Thatch B (7) 71
Bell B (8) 50
Farmers Boy (7) 44
WAMDSAD (7) 24
With nine points between us and Thatch B, only a 12-0 victory for the Thatch, combined with us losing our final game, will allow them to take the league title from us. Any kind of draw or win against the Farmers Boy next week, or the Thatch losing, and we are champions.
Away versus WAMDSAD
Captains Report
Keith Walls
WAMDSAD or “the night I learnt to Wham da Sad.”
After a four week absence (during which the team had flattened all before them) the Mayor of Flair returned for one night only to take back the baton of captaincy. His German escapades had come to a temporary halt allowing him one night to get back on the baize. As it transpired it was to be a glorious night to return to the helm, or a glorious night for the helm to return, depending on your point of view.
While he was away, Slugger Judge Budge had steered the ship through some rocky waters and it was nice to return to see us top of the heap, king of the hill, the big cheese, number uno honchos...
As long as there were no slip ups, a decent win at the WAMDSAD would have us on the brink of securing the section title and put us into the quarters. The only other thing left to be decided would be the seedings which are dependant on the average points taken by each of the last eight sides.
With Brad not around we had seven and the Mayor took the opportunity to drop himself from the first six. Firstly he wanted to see at first hand how his troops had come on in the last few weeks, and secondly avoid the embarrassment of coming back and promptly getting beat!
The captain took a leaf out his numbers two's book (stop it!) by sending ‘Tredwell the dependable’ out to bat first. He broke, should have dished but didn't, but then another opening appeared and it was all over. And to be honest this set the tone for the evening. One after another JY, Judge Budge, Lee and the ever improving Neil rattled off their frames in similar fashion.
At the break it was 5-1 with Swanny the only player with a ‘ring doughnut’ next to his name after ‘knuckling’ a cut black into the middle.
Mark Swann 0
Lee graciously stepped down from the back six and it was a straight swop for the Mayor of Flair to come in and get his arm oiled up.
Treddy, JY, Neil and the Judge posted their doubles for the evening and the pressure fell onto Swanny to avoid losing twice. We have only had one double loss so far this season but it became two when Swanny lost his second game, turning his ring doughnut into a double Bagel.
The mayor stepped in and rattled a long red when the dish was on but then given a second opportunity to put this puppy to sleep he snaffled up the chance, and picked up a much needed win – smoke my pork it was 10-2 .
Very little else to report - It had a very ‘end of season’ feel to it. The job had been done last week against the Thatched Cottage Cheese. Neil bottled the only possible ‘Pointless Flair Shot of the Week’ when deciding to cut the black to the middle instead of taking the double. He missed the cut as well - there's a lesson to be learnt.
For the record, here's the err… records with one divisional game to go :
Brad ‘the most hated man in pool’ Robinson 9/10 (90%)
Lee ‘Captain Wannabe’ Greenwood 7/8 (87%)
Andy ‘Treddy’ Tredwell 11/13 (85%)
John ‘early exit’ Young 9/11 (81%)
Neil ‘Class of Cameron’ Cameron 8/10 (80%)
Kevin ‘Slugger’ Southam 9/12 (75%)
Keith ‘Mayor of Flair’ Walls 7/10 (70%)
Mark ‘The Flair’ Swann 5/11 (45%)
The top teams currently left according to rank are :
Racks A 12.65
Bell BAPL 12.33
Pond House C 12.30
Forresters 11.66
Racks Pack 11.42
Thatch A 10.55
Thatch B 10.14
Cookham 9.55
Bell D 9.37
In the final week of the season Pond House C play the Forresters, with the winner taking their division. If we can better the Forresters total by 2 we can nip fourth place in the seedings. The other interesting game is Cookham v Bell D, where the winner will finish second in the division and take the last quarter final place.
So the final game of the season has us hosting the Farmers Boy. The Captain will be missing in action once again and hopefully back for the quarters - which is by no means certain or wanted!
Keith Walls
WAMDSAD or “the night I learnt to Wham da Sad.”
After a four week absence (during which the team had flattened all before them) the Mayor of Flair returned for one night only to take back the baton of captaincy. His German escapades had come to a temporary halt allowing him one night to get back on the baize. As it transpired it was to be a glorious night to return to the helm, or a glorious night for the helm to return, depending on your point of view.
While he was away, Slugger Judge Budge had steered the ship through some rocky waters and it was nice to return to see us top of the heap, king of the hill, the big cheese, number uno honchos...
As long as there were no slip ups, a decent win at the WAMDSAD would have us on the brink of securing the section title and put us into the quarters. The only other thing left to be decided would be the seedings which are dependant on the average points taken by each of the last eight sides.
With Brad not around we had seven and the Mayor took the opportunity to drop himself from the first six. Firstly he wanted to see at first hand how his troops had come on in the last few weeks, and secondly avoid the embarrassment of coming back and promptly getting beat!
The captain took a leaf out his numbers two's book (stop it!) by sending ‘Tredwell the dependable’ out to bat first. He broke, should have dished but didn't, but then another opening appeared and it was all over. And to be honest this set the tone for the evening. One after another JY, Judge Budge, Lee and the ever improving Neil rattled off their frames in similar fashion.
At the break it was 5-1 with Swanny the only player with a ‘ring doughnut’ next to his name after ‘knuckling’ a cut black into the middle.
Mark Swann 0
Lee graciously stepped down from the back six and it was a straight swop for the Mayor of Flair to come in and get his arm oiled up.
Treddy, JY, Neil and the Judge posted their doubles for the evening and the pressure fell onto Swanny to avoid losing twice. We have only had one double loss so far this season but it became two when Swanny lost his second game, turning his ring doughnut into a double Bagel.
The mayor stepped in and rattled a long red when the dish was on but then given a second opportunity to put this puppy to sleep he snaffled up the chance, and picked up a much needed win – smoke my pork it was 10-2 .
Very little else to report - It had a very ‘end of season’ feel to it. The job had been done last week against the Thatched Cottage Cheese. Neil bottled the only possible ‘Pointless Flair Shot of the Week’ when deciding to cut the black to the middle instead of taking the double. He missed the cut as well - there's a lesson to be learnt.
For the record, here's the err… records with one divisional game to go :
Brad ‘the most hated man in pool’ Robinson 9/10 (90%)
Lee ‘Captain Wannabe’ Greenwood 7/8 (87%)
Andy ‘Treddy’ Tredwell 11/13 (85%)
John ‘early exit’ Young 9/11 (81%)
Neil ‘Class of Cameron’ Cameron 8/10 (80%)
Kevin ‘Slugger’ Southam 9/12 (75%)
Keith ‘Mayor of Flair’ Walls 7/10 (70%)
Mark ‘The Flair’ Swann 5/11 (45%)
The top teams currently left according to rank are :
Racks A 12.65
Bell BAPL 12.33
Pond House C 12.30
Forresters 11.66
Racks Pack 11.42
Thatch A 10.55
Thatch B 10.14
Cookham 9.55
Bell D 9.37
In the final week of the season Pond House C play the Forresters, with the winner taking their division. If we can better the Forresters total by 2 we can nip fourth place in the seedings. The other interesting game is Cookham v Bell D, where the winner will finish second in the division and take the last quarter final place.
So the final game of the season has us hosting the Farmers Boy. The Captain will be missing in action once again and hopefully back for the quarters - which is by no means certain or wanted!
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Week 8 - Results & Tables
Week 8 Results
4-Sept-06
Bell B 7 - Farmers Boy 5
Racks Pack 10 - Thatch B 2
WAMDSAD [bye]
TABLE
played (won) points
Racks Pack (6) 67
Thatch B (6) 59
Bell B (7) 47
Farmers Boy (7) 44
WAMDSAD (6) 22
After last nights victory we are eight points clear of the Thatch cottage. Barring a mathmatical anomaly, victories in our last two games against the Farmers Boy and WAMDSAD will be enough to seal the divisional title.
NEXT GAME: Sept 11th away versus WAMDSAD
Home versus Thatch Cottage
As a pool team member, I am always aware of important games coming up - it starts praying on my mind days in advance. Will I play? Will I win? Will the team win? Did I feed the cat?
Our top-of-the-table clash with Thatched Cottage was no different - a must-win game if the division winning ambitions of our absent Captain are to be realised.
With seven players vying for six playing spots, someone was going to get some bad news and as stand-in captain the responsibility to disappoint someone fell to me. Our success or otherwise in this game would be the sole judge of the quality of that decision. Who should I play? In what order? Who should I drop? Do I even have a cat? For answers to these important questions, and more, read on...
Sub-junior-vice-under-captains report
Kevin 'Slugger' Southam
A fast start was needed if we weren't to be playing catch-up the whole evening, and they don't get much faster than Treaddy. Facilitated by his timely arrival and promoted from his usual spot at number six, he rattled off the first frame in two visits and double quick time. A perfect start and 1-0.
JY up next and a very similar story to frame one! He could have cleared from the break; he didn't, but some minor tactical to-ing and fro-ing saw him engineer a second opportunity that, like his burgers, he took with relish. 2-0.
At 2-0 down the last thing you want to see is a player of Brad Robinson's calibre taking to the baize. However the Cottage boys were obviously not aware of his mental anguish - my strategy of losing ten consecutive frames to him in the pre-match practice session had taken its toll, and he looked a shadow of his former self. At the end he was like the man who has just discovered his first grey hair - praying to dye. 2-1.
As sub-junior-vice-under-captain it was down to me to re-establish our two frame lead. A captains performance was required, and I gave one. Unfortunately it was performance of the captain of the Women's Institute tiddly wink team, but I scraped through to secure my win. 3-1.
Neil Cameron up next, and in the first of two great performances he played like a man who has been playing team pool all his life. Despite a few wobbles, he took out a finish under-pressure where lesser men would have crumbled. 4-1.
Up last was Lee. I had made the comment before the game that if we were in trouble at 3-2 down, there are not many players I would trust most than Lee Greenwood to grind out a frame. As it transpired he was under no great pressure, and he played & won accordingly. 5-1.
Decisions decisions!
Having only one loss in the first half, it seemed a straight-forward and reasonable decision to drop Brad in favour of the Swanny. At the start of the match Mark 'The Flair' Swann had taken my decision to drop him well, but in fairness to me at 5-1 I felt I had been vindicated. Complicating my decision whether or not to drop Brad was the fact that, despite winning my frame, I had played like a man with no thumbs.
Knowing that having Brad in the team playing badly is better than having me in it playing well I decided to drop myself, bring Swanny in to play, and take comfort from my 100% record for the evening!
Frame 7, and Treaddy took up where he left off in the first half. He should have cleared from the break, and this was playing on his mind when trying to make amends later in the frame. By the time he cue'd up for the crucial black his confidence and concentration had returned. 6-1
JY was next, and again showed why he was the man voted 'most incomprehensible blue language player' 3 years running. He followed that by justifying his undisputed title of 'most likely to leave early'. Another solid double from JY. 7-1.
By frame 9 Brad had recovered from the torment of his personal demons, and I would like to think he repaid a little of my faith in him by taking out a super finish, topping it off with his contender for pointless flair shot of the week. 8-1
Frame 10 and Swanny, perhaps a little rusty having not played first half, had his chances but couldn't convert. By this point though we were out of sight, and although he will be disappointed he can take comfort from the fact that it wasn't a crucial frame. 8-2.
Frame 11 - Lee sealed his double for the evening. I cant comment on it too much as I was engaged in some top-level, inter-team bonding during the course of this frame, but I can say, with a certain degree of certainty, that he was massive. 9-2
Last but not least was my nomination for player of the night Neil Cameron. Belighing his lack of experience he held himself together while taking out a super clearance. A pleasure to watch. 10-2
Captains pointless flair shot of the week
This weeks winner is Brad Robinson. By his own admission not cueing well it was inevitable that some kind of pointless flair would be required sooner or later, and so it turned out when, left with two balls over each of the two corner pockets and the black on the side cushion, he contrived to leave himself the perfect angle to double the black into the opposite centre by way of a ricochet off an opponents yellow. Flair? Maybe. Pointless? Undoubtedly.
On a personal note I would like to say 'superb performance all round boys'. We've gone from three points behind to eight points ahead. Victories in our final two matches should seal the divisional title.
Finally, a special shout this week goes out to Claire Dormer, making light work of despatching her new-found 'knee-trembler' nickname to the dustbin, with a super second half frame in her match for the other Racks team. And to Jenni - I have threatend to retire more times than I can remember - dont give up just yet!
NEXT GAME: Sept 11th, Away versus WAMDSAD.
Our top-of-the-table clash with Thatched Cottage was no different - a must-win game if the division winning ambitions of our absent Captain are to be realised.
With seven players vying for six playing spots, someone was going to get some bad news and as stand-in captain the responsibility to disappoint someone fell to me. Our success or otherwise in this game would be the sole judge of the quality of that decision. Who should I play? In what order? Who should I drop? Do I even have a cat? For answers to these important questions, and more, read on...
Sub-junior-vice-under-captains report
Kevin 'Slugger' Southam
A fast start was needed if we weren't to be playing catch-up the whole evening, and they don't get much faster than Treaddy. Facilitated by his timely arrival and promoted from his usual spot at number six, he rattled off the first frame in two visits and double quick time. A perfect start and 1-0.
JY up next and a very similar story to frame one! He could have cleared from the break; he didn't, but some minor tactical to-ing and fro-ing saw him engineer a second opportunity that, like his burgers, he took with relish. 2-0.
At 2-0 down the last thing you want to see is a player of Brad Robinson's calibre taking to the baize. However the Cottage boys were obviously not aware of his mental anguish - my strategy of losing ten consecutive frames to him in the pre-match practice session had taken its toll, and he looked a shadow of his former self. At the end he was like the man who has just discovered his first grey hair - praying to dye. 2-1.
As sub-junior-vice-under-captain it was down to me to re-establish our two frame lead. A captains performance was required, and I gave one. Unfortunately it was performance of the captain of the Women's Institute tiddly wink team, but I scraped through to secure my win. 3-1.
Neil Cameron up next, and in the first of two great performances he played like a man who has been playing team pool all his life. Despite a few wobbles, he took out a finish under-pressure where lesser men would have crumbled. 4-1.
Up last was Lee. I had made the comment before the game that if we were in trouble at 3-2 down, there are not many players I would trust most than Lee Greenwood to grind out a frame. As it transpired he was under no great pressure, and he played & won accordingly. 5-1.
Decisions decisions!
Having only one loss in the first half, it seemed a straight-forward and reasonable decision to drop Brad in favour of the Swanny. At the start of the match Mark 'The Flair' Swann had taken my decision to drop him well, but in fairness to me at 5-1 I felt I had been vindicated. Complicating my decision whether or not to drop Brad was the fact that, despite winning my frame, I had played like a man with no thumbs.
Knowing that having Brad in the team playing badly is better than having me in it playing well I decided to drop myself, bring Swanny in to play, and take comfort from my 100% record for the evening!
Frame 7, and Treaddy took up where he left off in the first half. He should have cleared from the break, and this was playing on his mind when trying to make amends later in the frame. By the time he cue'd up for the crucial black his confidence and concentration had returned. 6-1
JY was next, and again showed why he was the man voted 'most incomprehensible blue language player' 3 years running. He followed that by justifying his undisputed title of 'most likely to leave early'. Another solid double from JY. 7-1.
By frame 9 Brad had recovered from the torment of his personal demons, and I would like to think he repaid a little of my faith in him by taking out a super finish, topping it off with his contender for pointless flair shot of the week. 8-1
Frame 10 and Swanny, perhaps a little rusty having not played first half, had his chances but couldn't convert. By this point though we were out of sight, and although he will be disappointed he can take comfort from the fact that it wasn't a crucial frame. 8-2.
Frame 11 - Lee sealed his double for the evening. I cant comment on it too much as I was engaged in some top-level, inter-team bonding during the course of this frame, but I can say, with a certain degree of certainty, that he was massive. 9-2
Last but not least was my nomination for player of the night Neil Cameron. Belighing his lack of experience he held himself together while taking out a super clearance. A pleasure to watch. 10-2
Captains pointless flair shot of the week
This weeks winner is Brad Robinson. By his own admission not cueing well it was inevitable that some kind of pointless flair would be required sooner or later, and so it turned out when, left with two balls over each of the two corner pockets and the black on the side cushion, he contrived to leave himself the perfect angle to double the black into the opposite centre by way of a ricochet off an opponents yellow. Flair? Maybe. Pointless? Undoubtedly.
On a personal note I would like to say 'superb performance all round boys'. We've gone from three points behind to eight points ahead. Victories in our final two matches should seal the divisional title.
Finally, a special shout this week goes out to Claire Dormer, making light work of despatching her new-found 'knee-trembler' nickname to the dustbin, with a super second half frame in her match for the other Racks team. And to Jenni - I have threatend to retire more times than I can remember - dont give up just yet!
NEXT GAME: Sept 11th, Away versus WAMDSAD.
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