Bradford No 1 stunned by Harrogate

mark_slater

Mark Slater

BRADFORD No 1 suffered a surprise 4-2 defeat to Division One rivals Harrogate in their latest Yorkshire Inter-District League match at Undercliffe Cricket Club.

Gyles Behbood started well for the visitors, a break of 69 enough to take the first frame 74-19 against Wayne Cooper and backing this up with a run of 43 for a 73-14 success.

Andy Blamire played some solid snooker against Kevin Firth and took the third frame 71-42 to put Harrogate 3-0 in front, before Firth pulled one back with a 37 break as he took frame four 64-1.

Things were looking up for Bradford when Mark Slater made a 45 break in beating Ricky Nelson 64-7. But the Harrogate player turned the screw in the final frame to take it 70-6, giving the visitors a deserved victory.

Bradford No 2’s match against Sheffield was postponed and will now be played at Cue Gardens on Sunday (7.30pm).

Firth (Undercliffe CC) progressed to the Bradford Snooker Championship quarter-finals with a hard-fought 4-2 win against four-time champion Gareth Green (Harold Club).

Simon Jackson (Eccleshill Vics) eased through thanks to a 4-0 victory against Josh Green (Harold Club).

The Bradford pairs competition is now wide open after Damian Bentley and Peter Hamilton beat Undercliffe CC clubmates Cooper and Firth prior to the Bradford team match.

Bentley and Hamilton took a 2-0 lead and although the defending champions fought back to draw level, the underdogs held their nerve to earn a 3-2 win.

Players are reminded that the deadline for completing all matches in both the singles and pairs competitions is February 21.

The Bradford Billiards Championship qualifiers took place at Cue Gardens, with defending champion Mark Hirst, Steve Wilman, Stephen Kershaw and Paul Devitt making it through to the semi-finals.

These will be drawn prior to the Bradford team’s match against league leaders Leeds at Great Horton Cricket Club on Saturday (7.30pm).

Hirst and Wilman both finished top of their groups with a 100 per cent record to qualify automatically, with play-off matches between the highest second and third-placed finishers determining the other last-four players.

Kershaw edged past his brother Trevor, while Devitt made a 71 break in defeating James Butcher for the final position.

Hirst made the highest break of the day with a run of 139.

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