2011 ACTEBA Ladies Doubles Champions
Cindy Blackmore & Nicole Welsh
Congratulations to Cindy and Nicole on their 5th consecutive Ladies Doubles title, and their 9th overall as a pair. Cindy also boasts a further 5 titles with other partners, while Nicole has won all nine of her doubles titles with Cindy. It was hard to see these two hall of famers being topped this weekend, but as it unfolded, they didn’t have it all their own way.
In the strongest Top 4 in years, the 8 ladies between them had contested 62 State Finals, winning 40 State Titles. This included the last 13 Ladies Singles Champions and the last 11 Ladies Doubles Champions. But before you go writing this off to Cindy and Nicole, the Top 4 included Singles Champions in Les O’Connor, Theresa Whitten and Jo Lowry, and Doubles Champions in Kylie Power, Kathy Harmon and Les.
In finishing order from Round 1, the pairs for the Top 4 were Theresa Whitten & Jo Lowry, Cindy Blackmore & Nicole Welsh, who had tied with Kathy Harmon & Kylie Power, and Ann Peffer & Lesieli O’Connor. Cindy & Nicole were the defending champions, while last year’s runners up Kylie & Les had formed new partnerships.
But Kathy and Theresa seemed to have the biggest incentive to achieve this year, as after qualifying for last year’s Top 4, they were forced to withdraw. Whilst they have formed new partnerships this year, it didn’t diminish their desire to make up for a lost opportunity.
The format for the day was a round robin race to 3, with each pair playing each other once, followed by a final of race to 5. Although doubles tends to lean towards a more tactical game naturally, with only a race to 3 each frame takes on more significance.
Ann & Les began the day well by taking the first frame off Cindy & Nicole, but this was all they could get as the champions took the next three for a 3-1 win. Kathy & Kylie in turn took the first frame off Jo & Theresa, as the pairs swapped frames before Jo & Theresa won the last two to finish 3-2 winners in a hotly fought contest.
Kathy & Kylie again took the first frame in their next match against Ann & Les, but the pairs alternated frames from then on (all against the break!) for a 3-2 win to Kathy & Kylie. In the battle of the top two qualifiers, Cindy & Nicole won the first two frames against Jo & Theresa, before the latter pair squared things up with two frames of their own. The third 3-2 victory of the day ultimately went to Cindy & Nicole.
At this point it seemed Cindy & Nicole were destined for yet another final, but a close first frame against Kathy & Kylie, followed by two outstanding finishes from Kathy saw a 3-0 win to Kathy & Kylie, leaving them hanging on the other table’s result. Kathy & Kylie had meanwhile qualified clear for the final, with two wins and an 8/5 frame count.
Ann & Les and Jo & Theresa had swapped their first 4 frames for a 2-2 scoreline. With Cindy & Nicole sitting on a 6/6 frame count after their 3-0 loss, Jo & Theresa would overtake them by winning, but they fell short to Ann & Les and finished third with one win and a 7/8 frame count. Ann & Les, meanwhile, finished fourth with one win and a 6/8 frame count, proving just how tight this top 4 had been.
The final between Cindy & Nicole and Kathy & Kylie smacked of ACTEBA royalty, with the surnames Blackmore, Welsh, Harmon and Power synominous with state finals and state teams over the last ten or so years, both Open and Ladies.
Kathy & Kylie won the first frame for the 4th consecutive time on the day, carrying on their form from the 3-0 win in the round robin. But while you can never undermine Cindy Blackmore, reports were that from this point on Nicole Welsh was unstoppable as the defending champions ran 5 straight frames to finish victors 5-1.
So congratulations again to Cindy & Nicole on their 2011 ACTEBA Ladies Doubles Championship, and well played to Kathy & Kylie on making the final. But to Cindy & Nicole, both ladies keep dodging me to complete an interview for their Hall of Fame page, so I will resist the urge to embarrass them here, provided they front up in the next few weeks…
And congratulations to all the players in one of the tightest top 4’s in recent memory. It isn’t often that the finalists are decided by the last frame in the round robin, in fact I don’t think it has happened in my 5 years of tournament directing…
Thank you as always to The Maram for hosting round 1, and thank you to Ojos for hosting the Top 4. Without your support ACTEBA could not run as efficient trials as we would like.
***Matt K can you please add the results attachments as soon as I email them to you?***
Chris Jones
ACTEBA Tournament Director
