German Club Underdogs and German Club Meerkats will line up in Division 1 for another club derby in a repeat of the 2019 MGEBA season decider.
After finishing the season bottom of the division at the conclusion of the minor rounds, the Meerkats would have been considered the underdogs but have done well to defeat three higher-ranked teams and have another shot at a flag.
They started the preliminary-final off well and at the end of round 1 the Meerkats led 4-1.
Saints then managed to string a couple of frames together at the beginning of the second round thanks to wins from stalwart Leigh Dowdell and young gun Dylan Beare to stay in front.
But the Meerkats were just too strong on the night and went on to take four of the next five frames to claim victory.
Marc Letizia was back on song winning both frames as was Karla Bowd who also went undefeated for the night.
Captain Travis Helbig was finally able to get back across the border after missing the teams’ first two successful finals.
He managed series to get a win in his third frame to seal the deal.
In a first, the Division 1 grand-final this year will be a best of 25 match – in lieu of the standard match format which is best of 15 – as voted in at the MGEBA’s 2019 committee meeting.
The format gives a true indication of who actually is the best on the night as every player will each other so there is literally nowhere to hide.
DIVISION 2
Defending premiers Linksview Crawlers have qualified for yet another grand-final and now have the chance to make it three on the trot.
Their opposition – Commercial Club Lakers, up from division 3 in 2019 – looked to be a worthy opponent on paper but were defeated by the Crawlers in emphatic fashion and remained winless for the night.
The 8 frames to 0 white-wash sees the Crawlers into the season decider where they will face their nemesis Linksview who finished the season as minor-round premiers and progressed to the grand-final after defeating Commercial Club Lakers 8-5 in the second semi-final.
DIVISION 3
Commersh Chaos easily defeated 2019 Division 4 premiers Jens 1 on Wednesday night to progress to the grand-final where they will face Commercial Club Cavemen.
The Cavemen did not quite make the cut back in 2019 after winning three on the trot in the division previously by memory so will be looking to make amends this year.
DIVISION 4
After easily brushing aside Commersh Comics in the first semi-final the previous week German Club TNT went on to defeat JT Sportsbar eight frames to six and will take on Eastern Allsorts in this weeks’ grand-final.
DIVISION 5
There was a bit of controversy in Division 5 with German Club Bandits being stripped of their win that put them into the grand-final over Eastern Rangers in the second semi-final after playing an unqualified player.
The by-laws state a player must have played in at least three minor-round matches to be eligible to play in the finals series and the player in question had only played in two.
With that, Rangers were handed a 15-0 win to progress into the grand-final and will face Victoria Hotel who defeated Bandits 8-7 last Wednesday night in a match that went right down to the wire.
The association will hold their annual wind-up and presentation night at the Blue Lake Bar & Bistro on Saturday, November 6.
In other eightball news, the German Club will be running a drawn singles round-robin tournament tomorrow night at their Square Mile premises from 7pm.
Also, the Commercial Club is running a triples teams tournament on the weekend of the 20th and 21st November comprising of up to 18 teams and is open to any player.
Contact Marie Skinner or Matthew Driscoll via messenger or check out the Commercial Club Facebook page for details.
