There was a full house for the final of the Doug Kinrade Handicap Championship hosted by Finch Hill Snooker Club last Thursday.

The finalists were Tom Miller (-7) who has been a regular winner or finalist in recent years and Doug Kinrade (+42) making his first appearance in a final.

The first frame was a cagey affair with some good snookers producing a few fouls and misses being called and one or two flukes for good measure.

Despite the pressure of the event, sportsmanship was fully evident as when Miller failed to escape from one of those fluked snookers and the referee duly called it a ’foul and a miss’, Kinrade didn’t ask for the cue ball to be put back.

On the night it was Miller who settled quickest and, with the help of a 26 break, he was back on almost level terms by the time they reached the colours. Yellow and green were shared but a failed safety from Kinrade saw Miller take the brown, blue and pink to win 79-71.

Frame two saw Miller take an early opportunity and he made 27, although it should have been much more. He was clearly stroking the cue ball very nicely and on almost his next visit he knocked in a very assured 38 break and this time when they reached the colours Kinrade needed snookers.

The latter did play on and managed to get a couple of snookers but once again Miller cleared the colours to win by 111-62.

Miller made a good start to frame three, potting a very nice long red but getting slightly high on the black meaning he had to cut the black into the corner pocket. He not only jangled the black and left it over the pocket, but he also went in-off in the middle pocket.

After a lengthy safety battle, it was Kinrade who potted the next red and took the black to lead by 62 points but once again Miller replied with a 25 break and followed this up with a 34 which brought him just about back on level terms.

The last few reds and the yellow and green were shared, but Kinrade played a very good snooker on the brown which his opponent failed to escape from on three occasions and this gave him the upper hand.

Kinrade then attempted a pot on the brown which jangled and once again Miller took full advantage by potting brown, blue and pink to win the frame 78-70 and the match 3-0.

Thanks go to John Spellman for refereeing the match, to Finch Hill for hosting the event and to the Kinrade family for the tea and cakes.

Ken Kinrade

l Isle of Man Snooker and Billiards Association’s Premier League competition was back with a bang last weekend.

This season it is being sponsored by Newfield and began with two very entertaining matches that took place which were all over in barely three hours.

First up was last year’s runner-up John Kennish and event newcomer Jamie Wilson (pictured above).

The latter played a good first frame and, with a top break of 31, took it with a great long pink.

After that though, Kennish hit him with a barrage of breaks as he compiled 75, 55, 54, 38 with another three 20+ breaks to win the match 5-1.

Wilson had a chance in the last frame after a 21 break, but gave away a few penalty points attempting to escape from a difficult snooker which cost him.

In match two, last season’s winner Darryl Hill took on another newcomer in Calum Gardner, ending in a 4-2 victory to Hill. He hit breaks of 60, 39, 34 and 32, while Gardner hit four breaks over 20. Gardner was 20 points up in the last frame but Hill’s best effort of 62 sealed his win.

Thanks go to referee Dave Kelly, marker Jane Hill and tournament host Cue Zone. The next group of matches take place on March 12 - full details are on the association website and recordings of the matches played are viewable on the Facebook page.

MIKE CROOK