Review | EPSB Seniors and Under-21 Premier Tours Conclude

It was an excellent weekend for Birmingham, as cueists from the city David Brown and Hamim Hussain won their respective fifth and final events on this season’s Seniors and Under-21 Premier Development Tours last weekend. 

Brown – competing in his first event this campaign – was the last player remaining at Barratts Sports Bar in Northampton. After collecting maximum ranking points courtesy of winning all three games and topping his group on Saturday, Brown returned the next day to defeat David Brock (3-1), James Brown (3-2) and Michael Dickinson (3-1) in the knockout phase to reach the final. 

His opponent there was Anthony Massey, appearing in his second final in as many outings this season after a deciding frame success against Stephen Delaney in the last four. Massey claimed the opening frame but breaks of 60 and 49 helped Brown record a 3-1 victory and pocket the top prize.  

Events Two and Four finalist Mark Ball made the highest break of the weekend with an 87. Alongside Brown, Andy Turner, David Brown (Northants) and Delaney were the other group winners on day one. 

Hussain, who went to Frames Sports Bar with concerns about retaining his place on the top tier junior circuit, ended up with no such worries come the end of it after triumphing in Coulsdon. 

Following a second placed finish in Group C, Hussain dropped just a frame in the knockouts when making the final with eliminations of Lewis George Harper (3-0), Joe Fenton (3-1) and Liam Pullen (3-0).  

Meeting him in the title decider was event three runner-up Benzey, who had seen off national under-21 champion Mark Lloyd 3-1 in the semi-finals. Hussain chalked up a close opening frame and then doubled his lead before Benzey got on the board with frame three. However, Hussain was not to be denied the glory as a run of 58 aided him in securing a 3-1 win for the title. 

Benzey’s effort of 105 during the groups phase earned him the high break reward. Lloyd, Jenson Kendrick, Callum Beresford, Paul Deaville and Aidan Murphy all won their groups, and each gained the full 50 ranking points. 

Amazingly – in an example of how competitive both series’ have been this 2019/20 season – a different winner emerged from every event. Only Ball and Massey (Seniors) and Benzey (Under-21) made multiple finals. 

To view results and other information for our events, please visit snookerscores.net here. 

The EPSB would like to thank all the players, venues and officials who have supported and been involved with this season’s tours. You have been very helpful during our first season of running national events. 

End of Season Rankings

Following the completion of both tours last weekend, David Brown (Northants) and Mark Lloyd finish the 2019/20 season as the number one ranked players on the Seniors and Under-21 Premier Development Tours respectively. 

Brown accumulated 400 ranking points after a very consistent campaign that saw him win four groups and reach two semi-finals. Close behind was event four winner Shaun Wilkes (395) in second and Mark Ball (385) in third.

Lloyd was also persistent throughout the season, racking up 435 points in total with a perfect record of winning all five groups he played in, coupled with two semi-final finishes. Connor Benzey came second with 410 points and Lewis Ullah third with 355.

The full rankings lists can be viewed on the EPSB website under the ‘Tournaments’ tab here. Please note, the spreadsheet may not truly represent positions where players are on equal ranking points. Where this is the case, the player who earned the most total ranking points from the most recent event on that series will go ahead. Please see point 15 (Rankings) in the Standard Conditions of Entry for full information. 

Along with other things, we are looking at a different and better way of store rankings lists next season. 

Junior Play-Offs

As discussed here previously, the six bottom ranked players (not including those who are not eligible for next season’s tour) on the 2019/20 Under-21 Premier Development Tour rankings will go into the Junior Play-Offs held at the North East Derbyshire Snooker Club, Clay Cross, Chesterfield on Sunday 19th April. 

The six players are Kaif Shazad, Bradley Cowdroy, Mickey Joyce, Marcus Dayao, Isa Ishtiaq and Lewis George Harper. These players will be joined by 12 more from this season’s Under-20 Regional Development Tours. 

We will contact all involved Junior Play-Offs players soon.

27/02/2019 | PLEASE NOTE: Since this article was originally published, Kaif Shazad has become ineligible to enter next season’s Under-21 Premier Development Tour due to not completing three or more events on this season’s tour.

Shazad will be replaced by Dylan Kemp (North) in the Junior Play-Offs, who was the highest scoring eighth placed finisher from all Under-20 Regional Development Tour areas.

This now means there will be five players from this season’s Under-21 PDT competing in the Junior Play-Offs. These players will be seeded with two of them in one group and one of them in each of the other three groups.