Wayne Cooper made a superb 109 break on his way to victory for Bradford No 1
BRADFORD’S two snooker sides returned to winning ways in style in the Yorkshire Inter-District League.
Defending champions Bradford No 1 saw off Sheffield No 3 5-1 at Undercliffe Cricket Club and lead the Division One table by two points from Leeds No 1, with third-placed Sheffield No 1 five points adrift.
Bradford have a game in hand on Leeds, while Sheffield No 1 have a game in hand over Bradford.
Wayne Cooper set the ball rolling with an opening-frame 62-17 victory against Joe Markie – which was followed by a superb break of 109, missing green on the way to a possible 134 clearance.
Kevin Firth then took on Sean Reynolds and won the first frame 63-19, before Reynolds hit back with a 63-50 to reduce the arrears to 3-1.
Lewis Walsh played two contrasting frames, coming from behind to win on the black 54-50 while taking the second after opponent Dan Bagley conceded the frame with three misses on the last two open reds, albeit when Walsh was 61-17 in front.
Division Two leaders Bradford No 2 travelled to Castleford No 3 and came away with a 4-2 victory which maintained a 14-point lead over second-placed Wakefield No 1, who have two games in hand.
Stefan Risidi made a 39 break but opponent Brad Burrows cleared with a 72 to take the first frame 77-47, before Risidi levelled the match by winning their second 77-40.
Peter Hamilton was solid in both frames, beating Grant Chapman 77-28 and 74-36 to put the visitors 3-1 in front.
Hanif Rafiq could do little in his first frame as Castleford’s Craig Murkin made breaks of 51 and 30 to win 85-0 – but Rafiq took the final frame 59-26 to keep up Bradford’s hopes of an automatic return to the top flight.
* The Yorkshire Snooker Pairs, originally scheduled for Sunday, April 24, has had to be been moved to Sunday, May 8 as a result of the EASB needing the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds on the same day for the English Masters Tour, as well as the last 16 for the English Under-21s.
The pairs event will be pay-on-the-day at £15, with registration by 9.45am. More details will be available nearer the time.
