James Brind won the Newport B-Class

[<<] [>>] by Andrew Gregory at Newport
12th July 2021 (AC)

At the start of the final round, four players were on one loss, and all four could win.

If James Brind beat Jeff Farrington, he would win - not only had he played a game more than his rivals, but who-beat-whom would also work in his favour.

If Jeff won, then Brian Havill would win if he beat James Skelton.

Lastly if Jeff and James S. won, they would be tied as they had not played, so a (shortened) game or tie-break would have been in order.

The key game then was James B. v Jeff. James efficiently reached 4-back and peg before Jeff had started, but a poor leave gave Jeff a chance for a break.

He took this chance, made all twelve hoops and pegged out James.

From the contact, James made 4-back before Jeff could take control.

Jeff then had two goes at setting up the break via a stoppo approach to 1, James surprisingly missing the shot in between.

The second go saw Jeff embark on an adventurous 3-ball break, finally foundering at 3-back.

James forgot his lift but hit anyway, ending the turn in front of penult.

Jeff hit back in, made 3-back, then took off to the ball at penult, sailing a few yards by. He then unluckily rush-peeled James through penult! He left James a 25-yarder; James hit and finished.

It was good to see some new visitors to the Club. Ken Jones spoke nicely, saying he would be back. He also claimed to have known your correspondent for 40 years which is an exaggeration. It's only been 39 years! Also a couple from Pinchbeck, Gordon Mills and Simon Conran. Simon may have feared the worst when he was rudely 26ed in his first game, but soon found himself in competitive games, including a +1 against his club-mate.

Winner: James Brind 5/6

Runner-up: Brian Havill 4/5