Had a fine afternoon out at Saffron Walden snooker club watching the closing stages of the Hexagon Invitational event. Now in its fourth year, it attracts a high standard crop of amateur players, thanks to the generous prize money provided by promoter Kevin Starr. In fact, last year’s winner Martin O’Donnell went on to clinch his place in the professional ranks at the end of last season after a very successful trip to Q School.
It was good to meet Kevin and see how much he was enjoying the spectacle. He had nothing but praise for “The MOD”, who returned to present the trophies on this occasion. Well, at least that statement was true until the two of them discovered they supported football teams from opposite sides of Stanley Park, at which point a little friendly banter developed…
Saffron Snooker club seems like a smashing little club – with eight tables and a friendly welcome – and ideally set-up for spectators in the bar area to enjoy the action on its main two tables. It was also good to catch up with Gary Moss from the On Cue blog, who seemed to have inadvertently landed himself a job as rookie tournament director in addition to his regular media duties.
I arrived too late on the day to witness Ryan Causton’s high break of 136 as well as a number of other notable performances across the 32-man draw, but fortunately was able to catch both semi-finals and the final in which Allan ‘The Assassin’ Taylor eventually claimed the big prize against Ricky Norris.
Allan ‘The Assassin’ Taylor takes the prizes. Photo courtesy of Gary Moss.
I couldn’t help but be amused by the stirring level of support Ricky received from his travelling mate, Phil O’Kane, who’d been unfortunate enough to lose to Taylor in the first round, only then to see Norris navigate his way steadily through the other half of the draw to the final. He couldn’t have looked more pleased for his good friend :-)
I enjoyed a chat with ‘The Assassin’ who I’d first met at the Paul Hunter Classic in Fuerth. I think his recent move to Essex has done him the power of good, as it seems to have softened his Scouse accent sufficiently that the rest of us can actually understand him now. And obviously practising at the same club as Mr Bingham has smoothed some of his game’s rough edges. He was a pretty obvious favourite for the title amongst those of us in the know, and while he didn’t play to the top of his game, he comfortably did what he needed to claim the prize money.
The other half of the draw had lagged some way behind after some first round epics, with its successful players being promptly returned to the table for their next battles – I couldn’t help feeling that I was watching two very tired players in Zack Richardson and Ricky as they contested a scrappy second semi-final.
Without further ado, here are the stats from those closing matches…
Semi Final 1
| Brian Salmon | 0 – 3 | Allan Taylor |
|---|---|---|
| 73% | Pots | 88% |
| (16/22) | (64/73) | |
| [1/3] | Long | [1/1] |
| 75% | Posn | 83% |
| (12/16) | (52/63) | |
| 61% | Safe | 83% |
| (17/28) | (24/29) | |
| 25s | Shot Time | 16s |
| 43% | Table Time | 57% |
| Frames | ||
| 0-82 14:11 | 7(  ), 1( ), 70(  ) | |
| () 1, ( ) 1 | 24-67 22:58 | 4( ), 4(  ), 5( ), 24( ), 22( ) |
| () 28, ( ) 19 | 47-60 14:12 | 31( ), 1( ), 8( ), 20(  ) |
Semi Final 2
| Zack Richardson | 0 – 3 | Ricky Norris |
|---|---|---|
| 67% | Pots | 78% |
| (31/46) | (52/67) | |
| [4/8] | Long | [5/7] |
| 61% | Posn | 72% |
| (19/31) | (36/50) | |
| 63% | Safe | 62% |
| (17/27) | (18/29) | |
| 20s | Shot Time | 21s |
| 42% | Table Time | 58% |
| Frames | ||
| () 9, ( ) 7, ( ) 1, ( ) 8, ( ) 4 | 46-61 24:48 | 25(), 8( ), 1( ), 1( ), 6( ), 6( ), 3( ), 5( ), 6( ) |
| () 1, ( ) 6, ( ) 46, ( ) 5 | 58-72 20:01 | 39(), 13( ), 4( ), 6( ) |
| () 1, ( ) 1, ( ) 5 | 13-64 18:35 | 14(), 14( ), 32( ) |
Final
| Ricky Norris | 1 – 3 | Allan Taylor |
|---|---|---|
| 69% | Pots | 88% |
| (29/42) | (84/96) | |
| [3/6] | Long | [3/7] |
| 64% | Posn | 83% |
| (18/28) | (68/82) | |
| 60% | Safe | 54% |
| (15/25) | (15/28) | |
| 21s | Shot Time | 17s |
| 40% | Table Time | 60% |
| Frames | ||
| () 12, ( ) 13, ( ) 1, ( ) 1, ( ) 12, ( ) 7 | 66-59 16:29 | 13(), 15( ), 3( ), 1( ), 27( ) |
| () 17 | 17-86 14:47 | 1(), 12( ), 25( ), 48( ) |
| () 10, ( ) 1, ( ) 1 | 12-64 16:28 | 33(), 6( ), 1( ), 16( ) |
| () 1 | 1-72 12:46 | 6(), 3( ), 59( ) |
For a fuller account, interview and lots more pictures, head over to Gary’s blog.