Wheatley Hill enjoy last ball joy at Brandon

Brandon were conceding 55 points start to the visiting Wheatley Hill B, from the Second Division. In the first frame Kevin Sample closed this gap by thirteen points when he beat Jock frost and Graham Jackson closed in by a further four points after he beat Ken Johnson in a very tight frame. Brian Graham stepped up to play a captain's part for the home side when he moved Brandon ahead with a forty-nine points win over David Blyth. However Steve Cave recovered the Hill's situation when he beat Colin Goodrick by twenty-six points. This left Tony Ellison with fifteen start against Brandon's John Hall. Ellison stayed in touch throughout and sank the final black to win the match even though he lost the frame by eight points.

Crowtrees were giving away nine points when they visited Willington but this was wiped out after the first frame, where Sonny Hann beat Arthur Goldsborough by twelve points. Sean Johnston then moved Crowtrees into a fifty-seven points lead when he beat Bobby Lee. Stan Bennett closed the gap to nineteen after he beat Peter Laverick and Jeremy Martin's one point win over Keith McLauchlan left Willington with an eighteen points deficit going into the final frame. Gordon Parkin proved the perfect captain for Willington when he commanded the final frame to beat Steve Armstrong by taking the final black to clinch his twenty-six points victory.

Leeholme A received 73 points start when they visited Wingate, but dropped 39 of these when Joe Hennessey beat Barry Shaw in the first frame. Jimmy Mason followed with a six points win over Karl Thompson of Leeholme, but the visiting captain, Lawrence Jones pulled out a very good performance to beat Dave Hammond by 35 points. John Bourne cut Leeholme's lead to 20 points after he beat Carl Brown by 43 points. Paul Harrison played steadily through the final frame to recover the deficit and take Wingate through when he beat Ian North by 44 points.

Spennymoor B conceded 92 points on their visit to Leeholme B but steadily changed the situation until they were 24 ahead going into the final frame after wins from Phil Wilson, Mickey Anderson, Gary Easen and Wayne Parry. Ray Gill managed to beat the visiting Alan Clarke by two points in the final frame but the Moors went through by 22 points.

Hunwick received 32 points start when they visited Crook Belle Vue and this was extended to 50 when Tom Ward beat Harry Coates in the first frame. However wins from John Warriner, Derek Potts and Harold Lomax pulled the home side level with one frame left. In this decider Crook's Ken Rider beat Des Mason to take his team through by thirty-eight points.

Tow Law A had to give their hosts at Durham City nine points start and this moved to thirty after Eric Wright beat Tommy Williams in the first frame. However Stephen Laing beat Michael Pratt by five points and Lee Cullinan beat John Davies by sixteen to return the match to the starting point. However Dave Carter moved the City back into a thirty-six points lead after he beat Heppell Hodgson. Barry Stoddart took the home side into the final frame by extending this lead to fifty-three when Charlie Donaghy went in-off the break and Stoddart knocked in three reds and two blues. From there the home captain kept the frame tight and took Durham through to victory.

Meadowfield received 16 points start in their home game against Newton Aycliffe but slipped 93 behind after good wins from the visiting John Briddick and Petere Brown. Norman Smith and Craig Hughes won their frames for Meadowfield to close the gap to 46 points but this was too much for Martin Halliday to recover from in the final frame against Ronnie Hall.

Sherburn Village visited Sacriston and only had to concede ten points to the Third Division side. The visitors stormed into a 71 points lead after they had wins in the first three frames from John Bower, Scott Mallaburn and Peter McGowan. Mark Appleby won the fourth frame for Sacriston but the five points victory left Albert Bower with the simple task of ensuring victory in the final frame.

Results: Crook Belle Vue 256 Hunwick 218; Leeholme B 282 Spennymoor B 306; Durham City 264 Tow Law A 214; Wingate 243 Leeholme A 319; Willington 233 Crowtrees 225; Sacriston 192 Sherburn Village 286; Meadowfield 230 Newton Aycliffe 332; Brandon 270 Wheatley Hill B 277.

South West Durham Association

Bishop Auckland Golf Club extended their lead at the top of the First Division after they whitewashed their hosts at Darlington Cricket Club A. The Cricket Club B are in second place, four points behind the golfers after they only dropped one point at Bishop Auckland Cricket Club, who are in third place a further ten points adrift.

Barnard Castle Glaxo moved up to second place in the Second Division after they left the visiting Tindale Crescent pointless. This moved them a point above Bishop Auckland Gents A, who only managed one point out of the visiting Shildon Elm Road. Old Shildon lead Glaxo at the top by one point.

In the First Division, Hopetown and Rileys suffered their second two points deduction of the season for failing to get their result in.

Results: Darlington Cricket Club A 0 Bishop Auckland Golf Club 4; Bishop Auckland Cricket Club 1 Darlington Cricket Club B 3; Old Shildon 3 Northgate 1; Bishop Auckland Gents A 1 Shildon Elm Road 3; Darlington Snooker Club B 3 Bishop Auckland Gents B 1; Barnard Castle Glaxo 4 Tindale Crescent 0. Hopetown v Southerne Club and Riley's v Darlington Snooker A no results.

Bruce Everett

Memorial Cup Final

Over the last two months the Bruce Everett Memorial Cup has been staged in the Darlington Snooker Club with 30 of its members in competition.

On Saturday the final, between Shaun Rodgers and Carl Johnson, was played out of 11 frames and it went to 5-5 in a nail-biting final frame. Both players showed the skills of this by staging 30-point breaks.

In the concluding stages Johnson showed the stronger to an eventful night in which the winner and runner-up were presented with a winning trophy and tickets to play Jimmy White in his visit to the club on September 20.

Carl was then presented with the Memorial Cup by Phil Everett.

Organisers would like to thank all members who took part in this eventful competition and look forward to next year's event.

Peter Everett of Darlington Snooker Club thanks everyone for their sportsmanship.

Worthington CIU

Team Plate

Fishburn B received 74 points start when they entertained Shotton Palms and were able to extend this lead by four points after Winston Hodgson beat John Armstrong in the first frame. However from that point the visitors took over with wins from Jimmy Evans, Paul Hickman and Dave Swindle to steadily pull the visitors back into the match. However into the final frame Fishburn B still led by eighteen points but this did nor prove to be enough for Jamie Hodgson who was pipped on the final black by Jimmy Evans junior to give the Palms a seven points victory.

Spennymoor A conceded 87 points to the visiting Langley Park and were able to change this to a lead of 52 after wins from Paul Atkinson, Karl Welsh and Paul Biddle. Stephen Coates then gave the Park some hope when he closed the gap to seventeen but Michael Pratt finished off the match with a comfortable win over Peter Morgan.

New Durham only received 31 points start from the visiting First Division, Fishburn A, who have a remarkable cup fighting record. However Gordon Bowes made a great start for the home side by beating Charlie Hirst by 27 points. Tony Thompson was second on for new Durham and held Brian Quest to the end but lost by ten points. Fishburn's seasoned campaigner at team knock-out matches, John Griffin called on all his experience to beat Thomas Cairns and close the gap to 15 points. John Carter put Fishburn ahead for the first time with a win over Neil Phillips and Alan Buist completed the victory for Fishburn when he extended the four points start he had to a frame winning twenty points.

Stanley Central entertained Newhouse, who were conceding 41 points start. A good win from the visiting John Maddox closed this gap to 13 points and Jimmy Hasssen followed up with a win which reduced the home lead to four. Harry Grimes recorded a three points win for the Central and then Jim Dufton put the home side on the road to victory with a 48 points victory in the fourth, leaving Norman Rimmington to play far beyond his handicap status to take Stanley to a big win.

Results: Fishburn B 278 Shotton Palms 285; Stanley Central 336 Newhouse 247; Spennymoor A 332 Langley Park 178; New Durham 233 Fishburn A 257.

Interbrew, Newcastle and Coors Breweries Invitation Pro-am

The quarter finals this week brought more shocks. Monday's games saw two more highly fancied players go out, with world ranked Mike Dunn losing to tour professional David Craggs. The game between Dunn and Craggs started with Dunn taking a 3-0 frame lead which included breaks of 55 and 60. Craggs pulled one frame back in the fourth with a 76-7 score and lost the next altogether. He put together a 53 break to lose the frame 70-73. Craggs went on to win the last four frames which included breaks of 77 and 53.

The other game of the evening saw much fancied Jon Birch (ranked 45 in the world) losing by the same score to Teesside champion Anthony Parsons. Birch started soundly by winning the first two frames 79068 and 104-19 only for Parsons to pull two frames back. Birch took a 3-2 lead with a 59 break only to lose the next to level the score at three all. he then took the seventh frame only to lose the next two to a very persistent Parsons who finished the last frame with a 50 break.

On Wednesday, July 23, the last quarter finals saw world ranked Stephen Rowlings (Preston) against the very exciting player Michael Rhodes (Durham) who has qualified for the main professional tour this coming season. What a cracker of a game this was with Rowlings taking the first frame with a 114 break only for Rhodes to level it with a 102 break. Rowlings took the third with a 61 break only for Rhodes again to level 2-2 with a 80 break. Rowlings made it 3-2 but Rhodes came back to make it 3-3. Rowlings made it 4-3 with a break of 58 only to lose the last two to make the final score 5-4. The other game of the evening pitched together two very promising young players in Gary Wilson (Wallsend) the 17-year-old who has played for England at senior level and also appeared on TV's Big Break and Leeds player Craig Butler ranked 87 in the world. Butler started very well taking the first two frames with Wilson then winning the next three frames with an excellent 104 break in the fourth frame. Butler went on to take the next two frames 73-33 and 76-24/ to take the game 5-3.

Monday July 3, first semi-final: M Rhodes v D Craggs.

Wednesday July 30 second semi-final: C Butler v A Parsons.