by primitivesludge » 02 Jun 2022 Read
Didn't I have a lovely time the day I went to Q School
A beautiful day, had breakfast on the way
And all for under five pounds you know*
Went to Sheffield yesterday after finishing Work Mountain for the time being. Nice start to proceedings at Ponds Forge as the card reader wasn't working, so they threw a wristband at me and let me in for free. Here's some general bullet points.
- Seated opposite Kleckers-Hussain, but got very good view of Akani-Dikme and Maflin-Hongyu. Not really rooting for anyone, just seeing how people are playing and if I can get behind them.
- I can see the edge of Muir-Glasby too. Muir plays with a pool glove. Glasby has the body language of someone defeated in his last six lives as well as this one.
- Dikme gets off to a flyer. He's a portly fellow and fun among the balls. Akani looks like the world is on his shoulders. Should be interesting.
- Kleckers plays solidly againt Hussain. Hussain plays abysmally. Real fart-brained stuff. Easy win, not much to be said.
- Maflin looks like the only pro in the room on the table next door, but also is occasionally wearing the expression of a man who stayed until last orders and beyond. Nice breaks followed by mindfog.
- Something terrible happens in frame one of Akani-Dikme. After Dikme's opening 50, the game has broken down. It's like 52-23 and the remaining reds are frozen against the bottom cushion and neither man is too interested in prising them loose. Frame goes an hour.
- Good century for Hongyu against Maflin, but Maflin mops up and wins at a canter in the end. Finishes on an authorative century.
Popped out for a coffee and a quick sneaky phone charge and returned for the second session - which started early (generally speaking times were not as advertised). Boiko out front with his Ukranian mates, all commiserating. He didn't seem too devvoed.
- Holt gets off to a flier against Keldie. 2-0 very quickly.
- These two frames happen as Dikme-Akani are locked in a facsimile of frame 1 in frame 5, only worse. I became morbidly fascinated. Both men had a thimbleful of confidence between them. They would switch between half-hearted attack and half-baked defence. At one point time ceased to have meaning. The world crumbled and was reborn. Mountains rose out of the sea. Mother Nature whispered the secret of it all in my ear. And then Umut Dikme missed another red and I promptly forgot it all.
- Wells-Cheung on the next table was reasonably full of intent if not top level play. Cheung has a nice BTS-style dye job. Wells kept whining to the ref behind Cheung's back and the ref seemed to genuinely commiserate, though I couldn't tell why. Wells looks like Keir Starmer from a distance.
- Eventually Akani gets over the line against Dikme and their table is host to Nüßle-Ullah. Ullah mostly has a 'mare all game. Sorry lad.
- Keldie, possibly because he's 2 down, stops giving a rubbish. I've seen teenagers take more time over pool shots. Magically the power of not caring seems to wear on Holt a bit and Keldie steals one. Doesn't last much longer though.
Went off a longer potter around Sheffield. Nice book store at Kelham Island. Recommended!
- Went far side to keep an eye on Muir-Akani and Cahill-Nüßle. In the distance I can see Holt and Cheung playing but not the table. Holt gets rattled a few times, smashes the cue into the floor, air-swings it. Couldn't tell why.
- Muir looked very solid and professional against Akani, who never got going.
- Cahill-Nüßle was the entertainment spectacle of the day, I suppose. Good close game though Cahill was the one making the breaks whilst Nüßle was hanging in there determinedly. Had a good finish where Nüßle made the snooker he needed to steal it at the death but couldn't quite see the game out. Hard lines. Speaking of lines, the two people watching this were me and Peter Lines.
- Watched the decider of Holt-Cheung. Good work under pressure by Holt, got his angst in check, and closed the door on Cheung. Cheung improved as Q School went on and was beating the likes of Kleckers, Surety, Hallworth a few years ago before COVID intervened. Can see him coming back.
Fun day I thought, though no one played really outstanding snooker.