3rd February 2007
Sam Baird won the 2nd West of England Billiards & Snooker Foundation Silver Waistcoat tournament of the season in classic style at the Victoria Snooker Centre, Plymouth. This prestigious under 21 snooker tour is the benchmark for all aspiring young snooker stars. The standards of conduct and play being shown is surpassing all the expectations of the WEBSF management team and coaches. Baird tops the rankings and has raise the bar to new heights with his own personal show of exceptional break building and potting ability. The in-form Michael Day, Plymouth was Baird’s latest victim in a one sided final in which Baird’s class took him to a 2-0 win in a match where Day hadn't played a bad shot. The first frame Day lead 49-1 when Baird potted a superb long red followed by a tremendous clearance of 66 to win the frame. In the second frame Baird constructed a very good break of 74. Day was heard to said "I have not played a poor shot but I've been blown away!".

There were two magnificent centuries recorded on the day. Bobby Southworth, Falmouth who practises with local professional Andy Hicks recorded the first century, a fabulous 122 clearance in the round robin stages against Jonathan Hollick from Plymouth. Southworth had the balls at his mercy in the very next frame but missed the black on 62. The second century came from the prolific break builder Baird after making a 73 break in the first semi final frame against Grant Cole, Plymouth he recorded a superb 127 to win 2-0. Baird made no less than 12 breaks (127, 97, 91, 78, 74, 73, 63cl, 55, 53, 50, 43 & 41) in 15 frames, break building of this calibre in tournament play is on a par with professional play. The second semi-final produced another spectacle of great snooker as Day defeated England International Darren Bond, Tiverton 2-1. Day set the pace with a break of 51 that ended after a bad ball-to-ball contact. Bond replied with a break of 37 and then could only watch as Day took the colours to go 1-0 in front. Bond responded in typical fashion winning the second comfortably to level the match, he then took an early lead only for day to construct a fine break of 51 to clinch the match.

The quarter finals produced an array of breaks as a result of snooker of the highest standard. First up was Cole against the young and improving Thomas Vanstone, Plymouth. Cole demonstrated the level of matchplay the likes of Vanstone need to reach with a fine display recording two breaks, 68 & 42 to run out a 2-0 victor. The next quarter final pitched Day against Southworth. Day won the first frame with the aid of a 60 break and took the lead in the second with a 42 break. Southworth needing snookers showed maturity well above his years by laying two cracking snookers which Day failed to escape from. Southworth laid a third snooker which Day escaped from and was fortunate to fluke a snooker in return. Southworth failed to hit the target and duly conceded the frame and match 2-0. In the third quarter final potting machine Baird faced Darran ‘the grinder’ Lock from Seaton. The highlight of this encounter came in the second frame, after Lock won the first frame to lead, Baird stormed back potting 13 reds and 12 blacks and was looking good for the elusive maximum when he over cut the 13th black to end the break on 97 and level the match. Baird then took the third frame to win the match 2-1. The fourth quarter final was an exciting prospect with Darren Bond matched against another up and coming prodigy from Plymouth, Mitchell Grinstead. These two had played in the previous Silver Waistcoat tournament and had a tremendous tussle. This was to be no exception, as the match had nearly everything, great potting, good safety, nervous twitches and high tension. Bond took a 1-0 lead only to go in-off the black in the second frame to hand Grinstead a life line and bring the scores level at 1-1. It was nerves and tension that showed in the third frame with both players striving to get going. However, after a tense battle Bond ‘fell’ over the line to win the match 2-1.

In the group stages Southworth won group A winning four out of his five matches recording four quality breaks in the process 122, 69, 62 & 50. Vanstone and Ryan Elcombe from Plymouth were joint second with Vanstone qualifying on frame difference. Vanstone recorded breaks of 57 & 44. Elcombe made a creditable 53 break. Group B produced 17 breaks over 40. Baird and Cole finished joint first with Cole given the top spot by virtue of frame difference. Cole recorded breaks of 67, 56, 55, 49 & 46. Baird made breaks of 78, 55, 53, & 43. The highlight came in a spectacle of break building against newcomer to the tour Matthew Atasoy from Wellington. Baird knocked in a 91 & 41 in the first frame. Atasoy responded with an 84 break to level the match before Baird delivered the knockout blow with a fine constructed break of 50 in the decider to win 2-1. Mark Green set off early from Salisbury to compete in this prestigious tournament. Green who has only just turned 15 years old did enough to demonstrate he will do well against such a quality field. He finished a credible third in the group posting breaks of 62 & 55 in a great 2-0 win over Baird. Jamie Read from Redruth pipped Dale Branton, Plymouth by virtue of beating him 2(44)-0 in their match. Branton recorded a break of 63. Lock won group C, his best break was 52 in a 2-0 victory over Tom Casey from Plymouth. Grinstead took the other qualifying spot with breaks 56, 53 & 43. Leon Bullen from Exeter finished third followed by Casey and newcomer Daniel Chanter of Taunton. Group D proved to be a tight affair with first and second, third & fourth place being decided on frame difference. Darren Bond won the group with Day coming second. Bond, who looked a bit out of sorts, had a breaks of 55 and one of 67 against his brother Adrian Bond. Day was involved in a couple interesting moments. Against Darren Bond he had a 54 break in the first followed by a 41 clearance in the second, that included fluking the pink to win 2-0. He then beat the 2006 Exeter Bronze champion Daniel Hine 2-1, Day rattled in a break of 52 to take the lead before Hine, needing three snookers in the next frame, levelled the match 1-1. The deciding frame was a close encounter with Day pinching the frame and match on the pink ball. Hine had a good tournament finishing in third place on frame difference above Adrian Bond and Joel Martin, Exeter who recorded a break of 55 in a 2-1 victory against Adrian Bond.

WEBSF Champion, Roger Cole said "To be able to play snooker to the high standard that we have seen here today requires dedication and commitment to practice. All 22 players have shown discipline and skill that, at times, takes your breath away. The WEBSF Management works hard to provide coaching and tournaments like today, for no financial gain. Reward is what we have seen today."

Report by Keith Millard