By Elliott West
Introduction
The English Professional Championship was first played in 1981 and the tournament was first held in 1981 and then ran in that format between 1985-1989 with Steve Davis being the first winner, beating Tony Meo 9-3 and Mike Hallett the last when he defeated John Parrott 9-7. The tournament was held in a multitude of locations, firstly in the Haden Hill Leisure Centre in Birmingham, then at the Ipswich Corn Exchange and in its final year, at Redwood Lodge in Bristol.
For the purpose of this piece, I wish to concentrate on the 1988 event in Ipswich. Up to this point, the tournament had been dominated by Matchroom winners but this year proved to be the changing of the guard with the 25 year old from Grimsby, Dean Reynolds from Howard Kruger’s Framework stable, winning the title after beating Neal Foulds 9-5. This was the World number 15’s first appearance in a professional final and so was certainly cause for a champagne celebration.
A Tournament of Talent
Held between the 4th to the 10th February, 1988 at the Ipswich Corn Exchange, the English Professional Championship was a tournament where several players excelled. One such player was Barry West. West put on a stunning performance, racing through the rounds, defeating David Greaves 6-5, Jimmy White 6-2, Mike Hallett 6-5 before losing to Neal Foulds in the semi-final. Barry was a character in snooker, admitting that when he was at school, he took eight ‘O’ levels but because snooker was to become his career, never bothered to go back to school and find out his results.
West’s biggest scalp was Jimmy White. A match that had the Londoner as a clear favourite, ended up being one of the shocks of the tournament. Barry won the match convincingly 6-2 and said after kicking the favourite into touch:
“That’s the best result of my career but I fancied my chances”.
Barry West
This event was full of high breaks with Willie Thorne scoring a century break in his last 16 match against John Virgo. A match where Virgo was beaten 6-0, only the third time in his career that he had been whitewashed. Rex Williams also attained a 116 break in the seventh frame in his last 16 match against Mike Hallett. A match that was otherwise a bittersweet pill for the veteran as he went on to lose 3-6. However Tony Knowles conceded that he was very lucky to reach the quarter-final stage. In his game against Ken Owers, Knowles only managed three breaks of over 30 compared to five from Owers. In a a match that ended 6-3 in Tony’s favour, Knowles later reflected on the win saying:
“Ken should have won, he played the better snooker”.
Tony Knowles
The Final
With Joe Johnson dispatched 9-8 by Dean Reynolds and Barry West 9-6 by Dean Reynolds, the final stage was set up between Neal Foulds and Dean Reynolds. Both Foulds and Reynolds had entered this tournament with some form at the Masters. After a pretty dire season, Dean had changed his cue just prior to the event after losing confidence with his old two piece cue, which he said was now “located at the bottom of a river”. His new cue, also of the two piece variety, was purchased on Christmas Eve for £150 and was definitely the tonic that he required. Reynolds had soared to the final with wins over John Parrott, current holder, Tony Meo and former World Champion Joe Johnson in the previous rounds.
Dean started the match off well, seizing the first four frames, beginning with a break of 96 with further runs of 36 and 39 (frame 3) and 40 and 50 (frame 4). Foulds then took the fifth frame then Reynolds the sixth frame with breaks of 34 and 59. At the end of the first session, Reynolds led 5-2.
In the second session, Dean started off where he left off, racing into a 7-2 lead, Foulds fought back to 8-5 but by this point the match was Reynolds’ and as the score line suggested, Dean went on to win the match 9-5 after clinching the last frame. Neil’s only consolation prize to the defeat, was the way he played in the semi-final when he came from 2-1 down to Willie Thorne to win the next five frames and the match. The highest break was claimed by Barry West who in his match against Mike Hallett, complied a total clearance of 134 on the way to his 6-5 victory.
Summary
The 1988 English Professional Championship was a tournament that invigorated several players and charted the course for Dean Reynolds to victory. A championship that broke the mould of the usual Matchroom winner and highlighted the true skill of Barry West as a player. An event that was filled with high breaks and entertained the fans that flocked to the Ipswich venue.
