3-Cushion
SLUISKIL - Gerwin Valentijn told it as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. The street brick layer from Brabant, who turned 46 yesterday and narrowly was beaten in the first play-off game (Dallinga-De Distel 5-3), had taken a few hours off as he had to play against Eddy Leppens in the evening. And what a match it was... followed by a thrilling uphill game between Philipoom and Caudron.
,,I normally start early in the morning, me and my brother, and we work until about 5'', said Valentijn after his match in Sluiskil. ,,But today I quit a little early, at half past one. We had a job to do in Steenbergen, a sidewalk with 60 x 60 cm tiles. Just look at my hands, you still can see it. I went home, sat in the hot tub for a while, took it easy and then came over here.''
He played a match like no match had been played so far, in the play-off. Valentijn came out of the blocks with early runs of ten and six, dominated the match against an Eddy Leppens who has been struggling for weeks now. He took a 25-10 lead and finished with seven, two and three to win 50-28 in 19 innings.
That was better than Jaspers, Merckx and Forthomme did in the other semi, last night, and it was also better than Frédéric Caudron did in this evening's last session. ,,I had to make the return next Saturday interesting, didn't I?'', quipped Valentijn, but it remains to be seen if his one victorious match will be enough to create an upset.
Will the return game in the home of De Distel be exciting? Frédéric Caudron and Jef Philipoom closed off the evening in Sluiskil with a thriller of a match, one that brought the spectators to the edge of their seats.
Frédéric Caudron, the world champion, first had the lead: 20-14. Jef Philipoom, a former world champion himself, made a strong comeback to lead 25-24 at halftime.
The man from Pulderbos who will see Abraham soon, shifted gears again to make an eleven, which gave him a 37-29 lead. But everyone expected that Caudron still had something up his sleeve. The lead player for the home team proved them right. From 41-33 he exploded with a run of thirteen, to make it 46-41.
Again Philipoom showed resilience, class and fighting spirit. He ran six to prepare for his final innings, and he was the first one to cross the line. The unfazed Caudron had a stiff task: he had to run four from the break to equalize. One, two and three were do-able points, the fourth was monumental: 50-50 in 30 innings.
Dallinga-Frans Bevers won the home game against three players from De Distel: 5-3. ,,It looked like an impossible task for us to make it to the final'', said Gerwin Valentijn. ,,It would take a miracle.'' ,,Pay attention, you know what we are like, something is still in the air for Saturday'', said Philipoom right after his draw with Caudron, whom he had even beaten in the regular league round in Sluiskil.
De Distel has to win by 6-0 or 5-1 to make it into the final, but keeps his chances now that the sports commission has decided that Dallinga with the result of ,,the fourth match'', which was not played, received two match points, but not a 45-0 score. That means De Distel is leading eight caroms for the return.
The only player who won for the Dallinga team was Jean Paul de Bruijn, who took the points against John Tijssens. The home player defeated his opponent with ease: he led 20-8 after ten innings, 26-16 after 15 and the finish came at 45-31 in 30 innings.
On Saturday in Roosendaal, Caudron can't play, because he's in France for the team championship with Agipi.
The matches are:
Philipoom-Leppens
Valentijn-De Bruijn
Tijssens-Hofman.