Right On Cue

Bradford’s Kevin Firth made impressive progress during the northern qualifiers of the English Seniors Snooker Championship.

Firth found some devastating form at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds in the first of his matches during the initial group stages, beating a stunned Rob Spencer 3-0.

He included breaks of 44, 54 and a superb total clearance of 130, which still stands as the highest of the competition to date.

This is certainly a competition that Firth enjoys, having reached the latter stages last season as well as topping the high-break chart then with a 123.

Another 3-0 victory followed against Anthony Kerr, with a top break of 47, and although a narrow 2-1 defeat to Darren Deans came next, Firth still finished top of his group.

In the qualifying match, he then beat Phil Hartley 3-1, which included a break of 41, ensuring progression to the national last 16 in March.

It was a different story in the Bradford Championships for Firth as he was left shellshocked by an excellent performance from Calverley Cons’ Roy Beckford, who fully deserved his 4-1 victory.

There was another surprise result in the first round as Chalks Snooker Centre’s Jason Murgatroyd knocked out another top Bradford player, beating Sajid Khan of Lifeline Leisure by the same 4-1 outcome.

Eight-times Bradford champion Wayne Cooper (Laisterdyke Cricket Club) progressed to the second round with a 4-1 victory against Richard Hagerty (Calverley Cons), while Harris Ali (Chalks) whitewashed Dave Tolson (Cue Gardens) 5-0.

In the pairs competition, Yorkshire and Bradford champion Gareth Green and partner Boover Singh (Lifeline Leisure) won the tie of the round 3-1 against QTips Snooker duo Howard Mawson and Chris Metcalfe.

There were also good wins for Adam and Nigel Tipper (Bradford Moor Cons) against Murgatroyd and Ali (Chalks) and Damian Wilks and Anthony Green (QTips) against Andy Hodgson and J Halliday (Tong Libs), while Mick Sharp and D Meakin (Cullingwoth Cons) edged out Bobby and George Doyle (Laisterdyke WMC).

The draws for the next round of both tournaments will be made this week and sent out to all players.

In the Yorkshire Inter-District League, Bradford No 2 played an outstanding match against Division Two leaders Castleford No 2 but missed out 4-2.

Boover Singh edged Bradford in front but lost his other frame, with Anthony Green following suit.

At 2-2 and with Gareth Green to play, the signs looked good, but an out-of-sorts Green lost both his frames.

The team next travel to Selby No 1 this weekend, while second-placed Bradford No 1 return to action in Division One when they face Harrogate at Undercliffe Cricket Club on Sunday (7.30pm).