Trent Trophies Tuesday Pool League Doubles Merits

The dust settles on the first competition for silverware of the season, as we look back on another fantastic night of Doubles Merits action.

This annual competition has a history dating all the way back to 1986, when the league began, and once again produced some brilliant matches, big performances and plenty of drama.

🏆 Main Doubles Merits

Quarter Finals

First match out of the hat saw Jamie Latham and Steve Bridgwood take on Div 1 pairing Joss Macpherson and Harry Johnson.

Harry and Joss will have gained some quality experience from the match, but were brushed aside 4-0 by the Plaza Travellers pair.

The other Plaza Travellers pair, John Clowes and Liam Flaherty, in the next game took on a heavily fancied pair from the Pioneer in Gary Harper and John Ryan.

Gaz having won the tournament 3 times between 1998 and 2022 with Simon Shone, it wasn’t to be on the night. JC and Liam played a great game, winning 4-1.

Another heavily fancied pair were Andy Woodhouse and Dave Adams from the Plaza. They took on Div 1 duo Peter Johnson and Steve Williams from Millrace Rebels.

Pete and Steve managed to drag the match into a decider and, admittedly, had a slight bit of rub to book themselves into the semis, taking the scalp of the round.

The final match in the quarter-finals saw previous winners Mel Walton and Mark Mannion of the Pioneer taking on a new Oggys pairing to the league in Waffa Cliff and Adrian Davies.

The Oggys pair will feel aggrieved that they didn’t make a closer match of this one, with Mel and Mark running out 4-1 winners.

Semi Finals

Onto the semis now and to the live stream.

As ever in a semi, the 2 Plaza Travellers pairs faced off. After a shaky start from both pairs, Latham and Bridgwood managed to start turning the screw and will be happy with a slightly flattering 4-1 win to book a spot in the final.

Mannion and Walton were huge favourites against Johnson and Williams and, whilst they played a handful of wonderful backs-to-the-wall shots, they couldn’t really put the previous winners under pressure.

Mark and Mel took out a comfortable 4-0 win.

The Final

Onto the final — and what a final it was!

Proceedings began with Latham and Bridgwood taking out a sensational reverse dish in frame 1.

The next 3 frames were slightly more cagey, but some flashes of brilliance from both pairs left the score line at 3-1.

Insert an absolute monster break from Mel, which then saw what should have been the simplest finish of the night turn into an awkward double on the black for Mark missed, and then a miss-cue from Steve to hand over the frame.

Onto the next frame at 3-2, and this was the longest of the match. It had it all.

Both teams will be pinching themselves after seeing 3 missed blacks before it was eventually buried, with Latham and Bridgwood taking the title with a 4-2 victory.

It was Bridgwood's 3rd TTT Doubles title, something only 6 players have ever managed, having won it in 1988 and 1991 — wow! 39 season years apart

For Latham, it was his 4th title in 10 seasons, levelling the league record held by Phil Sambrook, who also managed to win it 4 times between 1993 and 2005.

Latham also becomes the first player in history to win the competition with 3 different partners.

🥈 Tier 2 Doubles Merits

Onto the Tier 2 Doubles and it was an extremely open event, with around 19 pairs having genuine expectations to go deep or even win the event.

Quarter Finals

Let’s start with the quarter finals.

James Goodwin & Stu Ferguson went 2-0 down to fancied duo Russ Shaw and Carl Pitt, only to pull it back to force a decider. The Old Sal pair eventually progressing.

Andy Bourne and Simon Heath blitzed past Rich Williams and Daz Parton with a 3-0 win, having also won the previous round 3-0.

Ant Smith and Dave Owen, another fancied pair, with Ant hoping to go a step further than last season where he crashed out in the quarters, despatched Coby Johnson and Karl Jones 3-1.

And another of last season’s losing quarter finalists, Karl Phillips and Rich Doughty, took out Kerrie McMullen and Mick Barcroft 3-1 to set up the semis.

Semi Finals

Semi final 1 saw big Andy Bourne and Si Heath lose their first frame of the night.

Fortunately, when this happened, they were already 2-0 ahead of Shaw & Pitt, taking the match down with a 3-1 victory to seal a spot in the final.

It was the fastest match of the night, taking little over 18 minutes.

Semi final 2, in stark contrast, was a gruelling encounter between Smith and Owen against Doughty and Phillips.

Two favoured pairs battled it out for around 70 minutes, with a hill-hill decider eventually going in the Smallthorne pair’s favour.

The Final

Onto the final and we moved onto the Rasson table.

Not much to say about this one, as it will go down as a stonking whitewash, with a 3-0 win for Smith and Owen, taking the title in fine fashion.

Commiserations to Bourne and Heath, but if asked before the event if they would like a place in the final, I’m sure both would have snapped your hand off!

🎱 Another Chapter in the History

Another Doubles Merits competition comes to a close, adding another chapter to a competition that has been running since 1986.

Congratulations to all our winners, commiserations to those who fell just short, and a huge thank you to everyone who took part and helped make another annual event such a memorable one.

Here’s to the next chapter!