St Albans beat High Wycombe to win the Longman Cup Final 2020 3-2

[<<] [>>] by Stephen Mills at Surbiton
25 Apr 2020 (AC - Longman Cup)

St Albans won the Longman Cup Final 2020 3-2. Because of a bad weather postponement followed by Lockdown the final of the 2020 Longman Cup couldn't be played until 25^th April 2021. The final was between St Albans and High Wycombe and was played at Surbiton with teams of 3. The St Albans team was Stephen, Roger and Stuart, and the High Wycombe team Ed, Robin and Mark. The morning games saw Roger playing singles, verses Ed and Stephen & Stuart playing doubles against Robin & Mark. Roger put together a good break but lost to Ed who was very much the inform player of the day. In the doubles match the lead switch multiple times with Stephen & Stuart winning by one hoop as time ran out.

In the afternoon's singles, Stephen rapidly lost to Ed (26-0) who ran one ball through 12 hoops without using any bisques. Both of the remaining matches went to time. Stuart/Mark's match was close throughout with Stuart making a 5 hoop break with time running out which proved decisive. In Roger's match he used his bisques to pull out a 10 hoop lead, Robin gradually ate into that lead, and both players had 4 ball breaks set-up which if they converted them could have been decisive, however Robin was unable to close the deficit in the final turn after time had been called leaving St Albans to claim the Longman Cup trophy for the first time in their history.

Scores (St Albans names first)

Stephen Mills (6) & Stuart Stafford (16) beat Robin Morrison (10) & Mark Higgins (20) +1 (T) (12-11)

Roger Bowman (14) lost to Ed Olhausen (9) -11

Stephen Mills (6) lost to Ed Olhausen (9) -26

Roger Bowman (14) beat Robin Morrison (10) +4(T) (17-13)

Stuart Stafford (16) beat Mark Higgins (20) +5(T) (22-17)