Congratulations to Rhys Carpenter and Jimmy Llewellyn as they beat Caerphilly A’s Ben Griffiths and Allan Morgan 3-0 at Mackintosh Sports Club to win the Cardiff Open Pairs.

The opening frame was an edgy affair as the pink and black were both tied up early on, as neither pair could gain the upper hand, with a few small contributions from all players keeping the frame close as it headed towards the colours. However, a very good safety from Carpenter created an opportunity for Llewellyn as he potted yellow and a very good green to land on the brown to the middle pocket. He sank it and sent the cueball off two cushions to land on the blue to the corner, but with the pink and black next to each other on the top cushion it looked like end of break. However, he stunned the blue into the pocket to straighten the cueball and managed to make a half-ball contact on the pink leaving it on to the corner, and a thin cut back sealed the frame and gave the Taff’s Well duo the lead 1-0.

Morgan started the second frame strongly as he made a 22 break as the Caerphilly pair quickly built a 45-point lead, and it looked like they were going to level the match, but a couple of crucial contributions from Carpenter reduced the deficit before he laid a tricky snooker which yielded 19 points to give Taff’s Well the lead. With the tension increasing, both pairs tried to wrestle the advantage with very good safety play and long potting as the frame reached the colours with Griffiths and Morgan holding a slender advantage. After another bout of quality safety play, the first half-chance came for Llewellyn on the pink as he was faced with a dead-straight pot from mid-range to the corner, which he punched in managing to create enough angle to give himself a chance at the pot on the black down the side cushion. Not being able to reach the cueball, he opted to use his partner’s cue with the extension as he was left with a tricky half-ball cut which he dropped in dead-weight to make it 2-0, one frame from victory.

The third frame was a scrappy one as the high colours went to the cushions after only a few reds had been potted, but a 19 break from Llewellyn and excellent matchplay from Carpenter moved them slightly ahead as the frame headed towards the colours. However, a crucial in-off on the green from Griffiths gave Llewellyn a chance at a pot along the baulk cushion and unable to hold for the brown near the middle pocket, he opted instead to leave himself a cross-double which he dropped in to land perfectly on the blue to the opposite middle. The blue followed to move 24 points ahead and despite missing the pink, Llewellyn had the opportunity to finish the match at his next visit as he cut a thin pot back into the corner pocket to seal an impressive 3-0 victory for the Taff’s Well pair and complete a ‘double’ doubles as they added the Open Pairs to the Handicap Pairs title they won last week.