Whitburn show nerves of steel to clinch Summer title

Whitburn held their nerve to clinch the Danby Autos Sunderland Snooker Summer League title with a superb victory over South Hylton.
Snooker round-upSnooker round-up
Snooker round-up

In the first frame, Hylton’s Adam Smith started strongly against Whitburn’s Tony Hazard and with the aid of a 31-break, built up a good lead.

This brought a response from Hazard, who was trying hard to get back into the frame, but a few good pots towards the end of the frame saw Adam win the frame 84-37 and move Hylton into the lead.

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The second frame saw Graeme Ablett face Phil Burford and with the handicaps, Graeme received a 15 head start.

The frame started slowly with both players playing some excellent safety shots hoping the other would make a mistake.

With the frame progressing, Ablett’s long potting and a little run of the table proved the key factor to claim the frame 76-46 and levelling the match.

Joseph Cromby and Kevin Harrop battled it out in the third frame knowing a win would be put their team in the driving seat.

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Cromby started the stronger and managed to build up a slight lead with only a four reds left on the table.

This brought a response from Harrop and with the aid of a 22-break, clawed his way back into the match.

Going down to the colours, both players played some excellent safety until a mistake on the green by Harrop proved costly as a green to pink finish saw Cromby win the frame 65-51 and move Whitburn into the lead.

In the pairs, John Smith and Mark Fox faced Graham Rutland and Ian Stewart and all players showed signs of nerves.

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All players kept the frame tight with excellent safety ,but were never able to pull away from each other and going down to the green, Hylton had a slight lead.

After a mistake on a tough safety shot, Fox potted the green followed by a long brown and an excellent long blue to edge Whitburn into the lead.

After more safety play, an unlucky in-off gave Hylton an excellent chance, but with the black tight on the side cushion it was never going to be easy.

Stewart potted the pink, but was left with a hard black which rattled in the jaws.

This was punished by Fox, who remained calm to pot the winning black to win the frame 56-51 and the Summer League title.