Mixed fortunes in senior pool inter-counties
The Shetland senior pool teams had mixed success in the weekend’s inter-county matches, with the women defeating Orkney 22-14 but the men going down 45-33.
Women’s match
The 21st annual women’s inter-county was held in the Scalloway Boating Club on Friday, with six players playing two frames each over three sessions.
The first session started evenly with Caroline Duncan for Shetland sharing the points with Katherine Johnston from Orkney, as did Tracey Bussetil and Danielle O’Hagan. Amanda Cutt then produced some good potting to win two points for Shetland against Laura Harcus.
The two captains squared up to one another next with Inga Tait for Shetland losing out to Sandra Mainland who played some of the best pool of the day.
Shetland’s Sarah Jackson pulled out all the stops to take two points from Biz Seatter and in the last match Jackie Leask, after some fine play, lost out 2-0 to Orkney’s Rachael Sutherland.
With the score after the first session standing at six apiece, the Shetland players upped their game with Caroline, Tracey and Amanda all winning two points against Danielle, Laura and Rachael respectively.
Inga and Sandra played each other again, this time sharing the honours 1-1, as did Jackie and Katherine. In the last game of the session Sarah again met Biz and produced some brilliant pool to win 2-0.
With Shetland now 16-8 ahead spirits were high as the players stopped for a break. An excellent meal was provided by Tracey, Jackie and Michelle, who worked hard to make sure the weekend went well and their efforts were much appreciated by all the players and spectators.
The third and final session began and the visitors must have been lifted by all the fine food as Rachael and Sandra came out with all guns blazing to beat Shetland’s Amanda and Caroline.
Shetland were not too worried though and they had “wonderwoman” up next and she did not disappoint, Sarah gaining her third 2-0 win of the day against Katherine.
Tracey lost the first frame against Laura but found her usual good form to take the next and win the overall match for Shetland. Jackie then won comfortably 2-0.
It was perhaps fitting that the last game should be between Inga and Biz, two stalwarts of the inter-county. Last year Inga announced that it would be her final time in Orkney and this year would be her last in Shetland. After 21 years on the trot she is giving up the ghost and whie she may still go to the EBA World Masters in April she will then stick to local leagues, etc and play for fun.
Biz also says that next year, her 20th, will be her last, but the Shetland players are holding their breath on that one. The points were shared 1-1 with the final score finishing at 22-14, Shetland retaining the trophy for the sixth year in a row.
On Sunday evening the Lerwick Legion was the venue for a singles flyer and after some good play Rachael Sutherland of Orkney beat Sara Jackson in the first semi-final and Inga Tait beat Caroline Duncan in the other. The final was won by Inga who produced her best form to beat Rachael 4-1.
Men’s match
On Saturday it was the turn of the men’s teams to take to the tables, made up of 13 players from each county. Three sessions of 13 matches were played with each match consisting of two frames, so both teams were looking forward to a full day of pool with a total of 78 frames being played out in full to find this year’s champions.
The first session’s matches got under way on three tables and the results were: Steve Duncan 1, Colin Seator 1; Colin Irvine 2, Raymond Smith 0; James Ramsay 1, Neil Cormack 1.
The remaining matches in the first set were very evenly spread: Sean Watt 1, Andrew Milne 1; Kenneth Henry 0, Craig Hourston 2; Stephen Dobson 2, Steven Tulloch 0; Alexander Henry 0, Paul Robertson 2; Chris Young 1, Stewart Keldie 1; Martin Ramsay 2, John Drever 0; Neil Johnson 0, Paul Sinclair 2; Adam Swift 2, Merv Sinclair 0; Richard Young 0, Erik Wilson 2; Brian Thompson 1, Alan Stevenson 1.
Neither team showed signs of streaking ahead or county nerves as the first session finished 13-13.
The middle session started out similarly and after eight frames there was still nothing between the teams with the match tied at 17-17. But Orkney started to creep in front and when the session ended they were ahead by four frames.
The players took a well-deserved break at this point and Shetland Pool Association provided all the players with a take away from the Castle Cafe. The committee also passed out soup to the mass of gathering spectators.
Shetland came out looking determined after the break and with James, Brian and Steve all winning both of their frames, followed by Sean winning one of his. The Shetland men had pulled the match back to a draw and the score was now 31-31.
But Orkney had kept their best till the end, with Erik Wilson, Neil Cormack, Stewart Keldie, Steven Tulloch, Merv Sinclair and Alan Stevenson all winning both of their frames, resulting in Orkney only losing two out of the last 16 frames. The final score was 45-33 in favour of Orkney.
A spokesman said a special mention should go to Sarah Jackson (Shetland) and Erik Wilson (Orkney), who won all six of their frames.
The Shetland Pool Association committee would like to thank Tracy Bussetil for all her help in preparing the food for the women’s teams, to Robert Setrice who did a fantastic job levelling, ironing and brushing the tables (you made Orkney so jealous), to the Scalloway Boating Club for hosting the event and to Sinclair’s Taxis for the transport.
Teams for the inter-county and other competitions are selected from the players’ individual performance and results from the seven singles competitions run by the association throughout the year.
If any player would like be considered for team selection for future competitions, all they need to do is enter the singles competitions regularly. Details of all competition dates are on the association website www.shetland8ball.co.uk and are also printed in the paper when entry is open.
Youths and juniors
The pool association would like to re-start its youths and juniors programme. This would take place every second Saturday from 1pm to 3pm and would be open to all girls and boys under 18 who would like to improve their pool skills. Complete beginners would also be very welcome.
Anyone interested can contact Carl Cross on 07584 162518.
WDA Doubles
The WDA Doubles competition is scheduled for Sunday at Norscot Angling Club.
Names should be submitted before 1pm on the day of the competition at the venue, while the draw will take place at 1.15pm for a 1.30pm start.
Names are also being taken for the Shetland Open Championships on Sunday 21st and 28th March with the finals on Sunday 4th April.
Names should be submitted to 07900 028080 before midnight on Sunday – entry fee is £5.
League results
Division one: Walls BC 2, Hustlers 10; Lancers 4, Scalloway Legion 8; Whitedale SC 2, Harum Scarums 10; WBC 8, Eccentrics 4; Da Last Shoard 5, SBC Allsorts 7; Kiln Kippers 5, Sailors 7 Division two: Marlex Rovers 8, Me Balls Winna Drop 6; Bressay Sharks 10, Dragons 4; 22U 2, Kiln Re-Racks 10; South Kirk Close 7, LBC 7 Division three: Tipstars 10, Wheel Bar 4; Da Hoodwink 7, Maryfield 7; Jolly Rogers 4, Northern Lights 10; Untouchables 6, Q-Tips 8 Missing results: Baroc Beer Bellies v Warriors; Jirky v Sumburgh Hotel; Baroc Hotshots v 2Thule4Skool.
