Kent Singles results
Colin and Anne Senneck were the sole Hartley representatives at the rearranged Kent Regional Singles competition held at The George in Meopham on Friday 14th July. In Colin's words they "failed to shine". Colin was runner up in the Consolage.
Twenty four players battled for the County Singles title at the George on Bastille Day. The evening was sunny (until dusk that is) but surprisingly chilly, leading to much raiding of car boots to retrieve whatever extra layers could be found lurking in the depths.
Leagues of 3, played to 9 to allow for the relatively limited time allowed for an evening event, quickly divided the entrants in to 2 knockout pools, main, plate and consolage. This ruthless format lead meant any error or poor performance was soundly punished.
The knockout stages started with games to 11, with the semis and finals being played to the familiar 13, allowing a little more room for games to develop. There were lots of close games and some impressive individual performances
In the semis of the consolage Jes Paine beat Sam Littley, with Colin Senneck avenging his wife’s defeat at the hands of Robert Cooter. The final however saw Colin’s run of luck come to an end with Jes securing victory 13 – 8
The plate saw two very close semis, between Martin Eggleton and Dave Lavelle, with Dave winning 13-11, and Barry Soilleux seeing off the challenge of Dean Ashby 13-9. The most one sided of the finals saw Dave get the better of the “interesting” George pistes to beat Barry 13-4.
In the semis of the main Geoff Booth beat Matt Shrimpton 13-7, and Trevor Glenn put his home knowledge to good use to beat Steve Brown 13-5. That home advantage proved decisive in an extremely tight final, with Trevor finally beating Geoff 13-12, after several shot cochonnets to retain the title he won last year – will he be able to complete the triple next year? If so, does he get to keep the trophy? Time will tell.
The organiser of the day (Annette Eggleton) extended special thanks to Lesley Boycott, who having come along to watch was press-ganged into making the 24th player when an accident on the A2 prevented further arrivals and presenting the organiser with an unfortunate number of players. Lesley was unfortunately knocked out in the first round of the plate after some good performances in the league stage.
Report from Annette Eggleton (with comments from Colin Senneck)