Isle of Man Billiards and Snooker Association’s Newfield-sponsored Premier League commences this Sunday.

Darryl Hill won last year’s inaugural event, defeating John Kennish 6-4 in the final and the association is pleased to have the new sponsor on board for this season.

Joining last year’s finalists in the seven-man line up are Tom Miller, Peter Kirkham and Peter Crellin alongside newcomers to the event Jamie Wilson and Calum Gardner, all via the ranking list.

All players will play each other once over six frames and, following the league phase, the top four will contest the play-offs where the eventual winner will take away £120.

The prize structure will award £2 to the winner of each frame plus £5 for the highest break of the match during the league phase, so a player could be 5-0 down but still be playing for £7 in the last frame.

This year, all matches will be played on the Cue Zone’s Shender table and organisers are looking forward to seeing some great snooker.

A 25-second shot clock will be in operation and should make for good viewing, with a livestream available via the association’s Facebook page.

The league phase continues on weekends through to April 16.

As luck would have it, week one has pitched the debutants in at the deep end against the 2021 finalists: at 1pm it’s Wilson versus Kennish followed by Gardner versus Hill at 4pm.

The favourites to reach the play-offs will no doubt be Hill, Kennish, Miller and Kirkham but the other three players have bags of talent and there will surely be some shocks along the way.

Good luck to all players.

MIKE CROOK