The 2016 Lancashire Open Interleague KO qualifier brought 15 teams to Stephen Hendry’s in Preston on 15 May, with national-event places decided through five round-robin groups followed by sudden-death knockout matches. The draw was made at the Lancashire v Merseyside county match on 10 April.
2016 group draw
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackburn Fox Shots Atherton ABH Pool |
Lancaster A Preston Fleetwood |
Wigan A Clitheroe A Lancaster B |
Chorley A Bury Blackburn Cabin Crew |
Real Blackburn Wigan B Blackpool |
Blackburn Fox Shots, Lancaster A, Wigan A and Chorley A were seeded on the basis of the previous season’s performance. ABH Pool, Fleetwood, Lancaster B, Blackburn Cabin Crew and Blackpool had reached the groups through the preliminary series played on 3 April. The group allocation itself was then drawn at random.
Opening matches
- Blackburn Fox Shots v Atherton
- Chorley A v Bury
- Lancaster A v Preston
- Real Blackburn v Wigan B
- Wigan A v Clitheroe A
Round-robin format
Each group played three matches across two tables. The opening match began at 10:30, the losing team then played the third team at approximately 12:00, and the opening-match winner played the third team at approximately 13:30.
The first two matches in each group were scheduled to complete all 18 frames. Two points were awarded for a match win and one for a draw. Where teams finished level on match points, frame difference was used as the first separator.
The group winner and runner-up progressed to sudden-death knockout matches against teams from other groups. The winners of those knockout matches qualified for the national event.
What happened next
Preston went on to win a sudden-death play-off against Adlington, Blackrod & Horwich and secure a place at the 2016 National Interleague Finals in Great Yarmouth. Read the Preston qualification report.
Explore more in the Lancashire Open Interleague archive.
Historical event archive: originally published 10 April 2016. Obsolete operational instructions and deep links have been removed.