Right on Cue

Bradford No 2 suffered relegation from Division One of the YORKSHIRE INTER-DISTRICT LEAGUE snooker competition as they lost their make-or-break final match 5-1 at Castleford No 2.

The Bradford side started the weekend third from bottom on 28 points, just one above Castleford No 2 with Castleford No 1 on 21 at the foot of the table.

But Castleford No 1 had three matches to cram in over the two days and kicked off with a surprise 5-1 victory against leaders Leeds.

They followed up with a 3-3 draw at Sheffield No 1 to reach 29 points, before earning a similar result at Sheffield No 2.

This left them on the same number of points as their Castleford No 2 stablemates and a play-off may now be needed to decide which team joins Bradford No 2 in the lower tier next season.

Bradford’s cause was not helped by the absence of both Yorkshire under-19 champion Damian Wilks and Yorkshire semi-finalist Gareth Green for the key fixture.

They had both qualified for the annual Pudsey Pro-Am tournament being played at the same time, a competition which saw Bradford’s Kevin Firth make the final before losing 3-2 to Tony Massey of Leeds.

Meanwhile, Leeds clinched the Division One title by a point thanks to a 3-3 draw against second-placed Sheffield No 2.

The Division Two title decider at Undercliffe Cricket Club saw Wakefield No 2 emerge 4-2 winners against Harrogate thanks to a stand-out performance from Chris Hall, who won both his frames thanks to breaks of 38, 44 and 70.

In the billiards league, Bradford No 1 enjoyed a second successive victory as Trevor Kershaw, Stephen Kershaw and Stephen Wildman whitewashed Huddersfield No 2 7-0.

But this was followed by a 7-0 reverse at Thorne, although debutant Richard Duffield put in a good performance until opponent Dave Palmer pulled clear with an 82 break.

Finally, Bradford hosted champions elect Leeds and were far from disgraced in a 5-2 defeat, with Trevor Kershaw their only winner.

Defending champion Ilyas Khan of Cuedos will take on Undercliffe Cricket Club’s Dave Stirk in the BRADFORD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP semi-finals.

The other last-four singles tie pits John Wellham of Girlington Cons Club against Manningham Ward’s Gareth Green or Sajid Khan.

In the pairs draw, Green and partner Damian Wilks tackle Wibsey Liberal duo Alex McCann and Tom Bell, while Stirk and Kevin Firth play Hanif Rafiq and Boover Singh of Manningham Ward.

Matches will be played over the coming weeks with a view to the finals being played towards the end of May.