Right on Cue

Bradford enjoyed an excellent weekend in the Yorkshire Inter-District League as all their sides gained victories.

Leading the way were the Bradford No 1 snooker team as they returned from Division One defending champions Sheffield No 3 with a 4-2 win.

Wayne Cooper made a 61 break during his two frame wins over Ashley Carty (63-10 and 82-42).

Kevin Firth started with a break of 42 but opponent Mark Turner stole their first frame 64-46, although Bradford’s captain redeemed himself by taking the second 62-9.

Mark Slater then won 55-11, aided by a break of 32, to put the visitors 4-1 up but Will Lemons took the last 64-17 for Sheffield.

Bradford next play Castleford No 1 at Undercliffe Cricket Club in a rearranged fixture on Sunday (7.30pm).

Bradford No 2 won by the same 4-2 scoreline in Division Three against Wakefield No 1 at Manningham Ward.

Jack Morris beat Bradford champion Gareth Green 63-61 but the tie was level again after a 60-11 win for the home player.

Tanveer Mohammed endured the same first-frame fate, losing 59-38 to Richard Marsden, but comfortably won their next 78-19.

But the undoubted performance of the weekend was from Bradford captain Hanif Rafiq, who took the first frame 76-8 – which included a break of 53 – and then demolished Wayne Haigh 104-22 with an outstanding clearance of 96.

In the billiards competition, Bradford continued their fine start to the season by following up a 5-2 home success against Harrogate with a 7-0 victory at Huddersfield No 2.

John McEachran got them off to a good start with a 200-176 win against Frank Griffin and although Paul Devitt trailed 63-8 at one stage against Jezz Ford, he hit back strongly to win 200-149.

John Ingleby started well against Bradford champion Stephen Kershaw, making a run of 56, building a big lead and retaining it until the dying stages. But Kershaw stormed back to snatch the game 200-196 and with it sealed maximum points for his side.

* Indian players pulled off a double in the World Billiards Championships held at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.

In the time format event, Pankaj Advani beat ten-time champion Mike Russell 1895-1216 in the final, while Rupesh Shah defeated Australia’s Matthew Bolton 6-2 in the points event decider.

* Local players Richard Lodge and Stephen Kershaw will be playing in the English Billiards Championship regional qualifying event on Sunday, again at the Northern Snooker Centre.

A total of 20 competitors will take part in five round-robin groups, with the top two in each section progressing to the intermediate (last-32) stage.

* Bradford Snooker Championship draws – Singles, preliminary round: Hanif Rafiq v Richard Hagerty, Lewis Walsh v Wayne Cooper, Gareth Green v Wayne Downey, Dave Stirk v Stefan Risidi. First round: Walsh or Cooper v Danny Farmer, Kevin Firth v Tony Borza, John Wellham v Mark Slater, Josh Walker v Green or Downey, Howard Mawson v Stirk or Risidi, Chris Heggarty v Damian Wilks, Rafiq or Haggerty v Eddie Ratcliffe, Jason Murgatroyd v Dean Parker.

Pairs, first round: W Downey & T Borza v E Ratcliffe & C Richards, R Hagerty & R Beckford v M Sharp & R Denny, J Walker & P Hamilton v H Rafiq & B Singh, I Laycock & C Sneddon v K Firth & D Stirk, A Herdsman & A Ward v G & A Green, C & D Tolson v H Mawson & C Metcalfe, T McDonald & S Sandhu v S Risidi & C Heggarty, J Murgatroyd & M Slater v J & C Buchan.