Cousins does the treble!

The first two tours of the 2017 season have seen Tom Cousins defeating Steve Petty 8 frames to 5 in Blackpool, swiftly followed by a victory over Dylan Leary in Daventry, winning 8 frames to 2. Winning back to back UK tours is an impressive feat, something few players have ever achieved, but the question on everyone’s lips was could Cousin’s make tour history by winning three successive tours? The answer was a resounding yes as he made a tough draw look very easy as he dropped only 8 frames in 3 matches against 3 current and former England players in Neil Davey, Luke Bowry and Giuseppe D’Imperio. His form continued with further resounding wins over Matthew Sellers, who had beat former World Champion Adam Davis in a marathon, deciding match the round before, and then against Kris Hampson, who saw a 2-0 lead evaporate after a couple of missed chances and then never got back into the match.

On the other side of the draw, Harjeet Singh was making his way through a very tough section, which saw him initially pitted against England player Shane Thompson. Such are the fine lines at this game that this was almost his first and last match as he let a couple of good match winning chances slip and saw a 6-2 lead diminish to find himself in a nail biting deciding frame. Shane had a good opportunity to take control of the final frame but elected for an attacking shot that was to be his last as Harjeet took out a great finish that would set him on his path to the final. His opposition along the way was of the highest quality as he dispatched of a former National Amateur champion, Gavin Lomax, followed by Reece Townsend, who on the previous night had taken out England’s Karl Sutton. Next up was Tour 1 finalist Steve Petty who took Singh to another decider. It got no easier as he found himself facing former World Champion John Roe in the quarters, running out a 7-4 victor. Steve Martin looked almost certain to see an end to Singh’s run in the semis, racing off to a 7-4 lead before letting a couple of decent chances slip, giving Singh the chance he needed to get back into the match, eventually taking it 8-7.

On to the final, expectations were high for an open, attacking final with little missed but as can often happen, the breaks dictated a different game. Neither player found a break that worked particularly well, quite possibly new territory for Cousins who is renowned for having one of the best breaks in the game. This led to some tight frames and uncharacteristic misses which just added to the tension. Cousins eventually found himself with a 7-4 lead but let a chance to take the match slip. Harjeet took this frame to take it to 7-5 and, after another mistake from Cousins, looked certain to take it to 7-6, but after a mistake with two shots, Cousins was able to get over the line and set a record that will be difficult for any player to beat, taking three successive UK Tour titles. The question now is, can anyone stop Tom at tour 4?