The Snookerbacker Blog

Sanderson with his artwork

Yesterday saw the penultimate qualifying event to this season’s Snookerbacker Classic Grand Finals in Leeds and it was cause for a double celebration as birthday boy and local lad Sanderson Lam became the seventh player to qualify for the Grand Finals on February 22nd.

Mrs SB and I decided quite late in the day to travel to Leeds a day early given the half a millimetre of snow that was terrorising and traumatising residents of England all week, so we got there in plenty of time to enjoy a curry at our favourite Indian restaurant in Leeds, well in truth, it’s the only one we’ve been to but it is top drawer and on a shortlist of one for the annual celebratory post-tournament meal, though I may have to request that they burn the onions on my salad as they don’t seem to have quite mastered that as yet.

Anyway, having partaken prior to this in a wine or three I found as I was leaving the establishment that I had carelessly misplaced a scarf that I had taken with me which I had originally found on a train in Paris. I have to say that I am a little disappointed that my Twitter appeal for its safe return fell on deaf ears yesterday and I can now only lament on the good times we had together, Pierre and I, and hope that he finds his way onto his (at least) third loving owner, he’s kind of like The Littlest Hobo of the scarf world and something of a maverick and I wish him all the best. He’s truly one of a kind.

Anyway, despite my loss I soldiered on and we arrived at the Northern having accosted referee Martyn Royce somewhere on the Leeds loop road as we hopelessly went around in circles for what seemed like weeks. But the rock steady nerve of the white gloved man ensured that the panic-stricken tournament organisers finally reached their destination with minimal further fuss.

As Mrs SB’s baked goods were being placed on her famous silver ‘antique’ cake stand the players began to arrive. Soon the Northern was getting packed and the atmosphere was building nicely for what promised to be a great day. Unfortunately, one casualty was Phil O’Kane who had decided rather unwisely to stay the night in Sheffield the previous night and trust a friend to take him to Leeds the next morning in time for the 10.15 start.

To cut a long story short, Phil had to take a taxi between the two cities to the tune of £70, he was also docked a frame by the callous and unsympathetic tournament director and started his match against Ben Harrison under stressful circumstances, but as it turned out he needn’t have worried as he ended up dumping out the pre-tournament favourite 4-2. He also hit the highest break of the first round of 91, which at that point stood in top place for the £100 daily highest break prize kindly sponsored by ELA. Was Phil’s careless day about to take a turn for the better?

Results were coming in thick and fast, indeed Newcastle’s Elliot Slessor won his first match against Penguin Protege Russell Morgan in under 45 minutes. Russ came adorned with a penguin motif on his top and armed with a certain brand of chocolate coated biscuits. Elliot faced a long wait, as it turned out a very long wait to play the winner of the last match in Round 1 to finish won by Chris Keogan a good two and a half hours later.

There were also first round wins for Sanderson (obviously), Sean Hopkin, Sydney Wilson, Martin Ball and John Whitty and it was time for them to battle out their quarter final matches under the watchful eyes of referees Royce (The Rock) and Leeds stalwart Alex Crum, who seems very taken with my wife.

Sandi also got a special surprise from Mrs SB

In the meantime at the tournament desk it was nice and relaxed, by now the official tournament snoopie Louise had arrived as well as Roland from Snooker Island and Kev Ellis from ESP Exhibitions who told me all about a forthcoming exhibition he is arranging with John Higgins and Michaela Tabb in Huddersfield, it sounds like a decent night out and he said he might put forward a VIP ticket for me to give away on here at some point.

The cakes as ever were flying off the antique stand, in fact I think some of the players mentioning no names (aaaaheeemmmm Damian Wilks, ahem) only enter to get their hands on them. Mrs SB had also made a special cake for Sanderson who was celebrating his 19th birthday, he seemed delighted with it and the stickers we bought him of pandas which are now happily residing on the handle of his cue case, little did we know that the day was soon to get even better for him.

Lam edged out Sean Hopkin in a decider in the second round and Sean may now be concentrating on a national junior event that he’s doing very well in. He’s been beaten by two finalists this season; Ant Parsons in the last final here and now Sanderson so he can be very proud of his performance this season. In my book he’s a real one to watch as I can see a huge improvement in his game in twelve short months and he has bags of time on his hands, you heard it here first folks.

Elliot Slessor again made short work of his match, beating Gloucester Finalist Chris Keogan 4-1 and getting the tournament right back on schedule with his swashbuckling style of play. But the day was about to take another cruel twist for O’Kane, who not only lost to Sydney Wilson but also saw his highest break beaten by John Whitty by just a single point to deprive him of his £100 taxi fare refund. Well, at least Phil to the best of my knowledge didn’t also lose his favourite scarf to further compound the misery on a day I’m sure he’d rather forget. This was to remain the highest break of the day and it’s my fellow scouser John that wakes today £100 better off, although he too fell at this hurdle having been beaten in a decider by Martin Ball, another North-East lad.

It was during the quarter finals that a chap I didn’t know called Lionel who is a snooker coach in the area came and shook my hand firmly and heaped gushing praise on the tournament and the blog which he said he enjoys immensely. It’s always nice to get feedback like that and he looked like he genuinely meant it, though he did leave with a cake so maybe he had other motives, we’ll never really know for sure.

Throughout the day Grand Finalist Oliver Lines was present to watch his pal Sandi and it was great to see him again following his win back in September when he became the first finalist. He’s a cracking lad and is thoroughly looking forward to the big day as am I as the field is looking top quality now with just one more heat to go.

Back on the table Sanderson managed to put a stop to the charge of Slessor who may have suffered slightly from the long delay between his first and second match but I’m sure he’ll be making his mark very soon. In fact on that subject, it’s quite interesting that the three players that have won the Leeds heats, Lines, Parsons and now Lam have all been players that like to ‘get on with it’ and need very little time between matches. This is something that also helps the tournament flow and it might be worth noting for other players entering this next season or indeed entering any other events, sometimes it’s best to just keep going.

Sanderson was joined in the final by Martin Ball who put out last season’s Grand Finalist Syd Wilson. It’s fair to say that Syd did get a bit annoyed at himself a couple of times in the match and his frustration was clear and provoked a reaction from no-nonsense referee Crum who ‘had words’ at one point. Martin had noticeably the cooler head of the two and as so often happens this is the player that gets the result in the end.

LOST: This isn’t Pierre but it looks a bit like him.

So it was to the final and Sanderson produced some excellent snooker to secure a whitewash. Martin seemed a little tired towards the end of what is a bit of a mini-marathon of a day. But in truth from 2-0, Sandi always looked like completing what was something of a perfect day. Obviously, those famed and fabled snooker gods were looking down on him and he left with a cake, some new case decorations, his winner’s artwork (which was originally for the Dublin winner before this event was rearranged), a place in the Grand Finals and a huge smile on his face.

Sanderson now joins his pal Oliver as well as Kyren Wilson, Andrew Norman, Jamie Clarke, Adam Wicheard and Ant Parsons on Grand Finals Day. We have the Last Chance Saloon winner yet to come from the bumper event in Gloucester on Sunday 17th February when we will find the final Grand Finalist.

To enter the final qualifying heat just click the ‘Pay Now’ button on the side of the blog and enter your bank details or contact me directly.

So a big congratulations to Sanderson who is now just two wins away from the big prizes, also congratulations to John Whitty on winning the highest break prize and as ever a thank you to everyone who continues to support the event in whatever way.

You can see all the results from Leeds courtesy of the fantastic My Snooker Stats website here and a big thanks to Andy Guest, the brains behind it for building this for me at very short notice. He is also promising something a bit special to keep everyone up to date with the Grand Finals Day, but more of that as they say, shall be revealed in due course.

I’d also like to thank Colin from Perth who I met all too briefly as we were leaving, but not before he gave me a little present. When I say a present, I think that’s how you’d best describe a little purse-like object made out of a kangaroo’s scrotum. Perhaps it’s some kind of custom but I politely smiled as I took receipt of this thoughtful gift. My mum always taught me to look grateful even if the present isn’t what you really wanted and I have to say the ballsack of Skippy wasn’t that high on my wish list, but it’s the thought that counts I suppose.

Oh and just a final appeal, if anyone sees a dark blue woollen scarf answering to the name of Pierre in the local area, please let me know. Thanks.