The draw has been done and every now knows what stands between them and a coveted position as group winners and a spot in the last 32 of the 2008 Interleague winners event.

I might seem strange to start talking about the last 32 before the first ball has been potted but that what all the players who have popped along to have a look at the draw have done. They have looked at who is in their group and made an immediate assessment on their chances of going through.

For some it's a breeze if all goes well and for others it looks like they will have a mountain (or two) to climb if they are to reach the holy grail of a last 32 spot. But for the majority of the teams involved it will be a case of if we play to our potential then there is a very good chance of winning the group.

Although I am in charge of the draw I never really look at it until after it's complete and check that every team that is meant to be in the draw is accounted for, only then do I sit down and study the draw in detail to see who has been drawn with whom.

It's hard enough to do the draw making sure that no two teams from the same county end up in the same group and I put another level where if possible no team from the same region play each other - this second level of segregation is solely dependent on the final make up of the 96 teams. Obviously if there are more than 32 teams from any one region then it physically can't be done. There have been a few times where it's been very close but so far we have not had to cross that particular line. Other than that it is how you come out the hat.

As I said in my preamble to this event earlier this year we are introducing a universal way of indicating a team's achievement. We are introducing a star system to indicate that your team has won the event. This indicator will take the form of an embroidered star on their team shirts. Any previous winners of the Interleague or the knockout cup will be allowed to use the "star" to indicate that they are past winners of the event.

Assuming that this will be successful, I can see no reason why it shouldn't be then we can extend it to possibly silver for the runner up, bronze for a semi finalist with perhaps red for reaching the last eight and blue denoting a last 16 finish.

We are only starting with the winning teams but if people wish (I mean captains & the players) we could roll it out to cover the various levels of achievement a team has reached. It is easy to look at the records to see who did what but the star system gives an instant visual signal about the calibre of the team you are playing.

Apart from the winners the rest will be based on the feelings of the various teams involved so I would be interested to know whether the teams involved would like it to apply across the board so if you have an opinion good or bad I would like your opinions.

This year promises to be another good year with old favourites mixing it up with the new boys to see who will come out on top. As usual hidden behind each of the 96 teams in the draw is the amount of work each has had to do to get here, they have had to play a full season of interleague fixtures in order to qualify for this event.

When looking at the draw it is worth remembering that there are no teams involved (at the time of writing) that finished lower than fourth in their county's interleague. Think about that for a while and you should then begin to see why this is the pinnacle of team events. Unlike the knockout cup where two top teams can draw each other in the early rounds, meaning one of them has to go and by doing so open up the competition for the lower teams to progress.

This is something I hear all the time when the lead up to the KO cup begins. I will get a team captain phoning up about the possibility of getting a reserve spot informing me that they are the second best team in their county's Interleague but were unfortunate enough to get drawn against the best team and got knocked out in round one, if that had not happened they would have made it to the final.

An example of this was in the days when Barking Elite were top dogs in Essex, and the country. Barking Phoenix were without doubt the next best team in the Essex stable but if, as it did happen, Elite drew Phoenix it would probably end in an Elite win.

With Phoenix out of the picture it meant that other teams within Essex had the opportunity to shine and get to the national finals and get to play on the big stage.

That does not happen with this event because it is qualification based on a teams whole season's results. This means that having played a whole season and finished in a top four spot in their county's interleague, they have qualified.

I know I keep banging on about this but when you look at all the interleague teams in England that don't make to the national finals it just underlines the quality of the teams that do make it.

We are going to have Paul Wyatt taking "official" photos over the weekend so if you see him taking photos of you or your team he does have permission from us to do so.

We are hoping to have a load of the photos on the EPA web site by the end of play on Saturday. We have tried to do this many times before but always fall over on delivering on this. There are a number of reasons none of which are serious enough for this seemingly simple task to get completed. This time however I hope everything is in place to make this happen. I feel it will add a lot to the event if you can see the photos taken at the time and it will add a visual side to the event.

Just about every photo taken over the weekend will also be available for purchase either over the weekend in a nice frame or through Paul once the event is over. Whilst he will be taking the photos for us and we will get first use of them we have nothing to do with the commercial side of the photos. Any dealings on the purchase of the photos are between the individual buying the photo and Paul.

We will not be taking any money from the sale of any of the photos taken over the weekend. Why are we making this statement, I am sure that some old cynics would accuse us of making money out of the photos or taking the photos to make money our only involvement with the pictures will be to use them on the web site. Neither do we have any involvement in the pricing of the photos that is an issue for Paul to decide.

We have the England men's internal trials and the Youth internal trials again this year but the U21's and the ladies have elected to hold their trials elsewhere.

For those that don't know about the trials, they are for the world championships, basically the England squad is bigger than the team we are allowed to take to the event, so to whittle it down to the team size that is required for the world championships all the players who have not been retained and the new members to the squad this year play off against each other and the players with the best record going forward as part of the England team that will play in the world championships.

Whilst we as organisers are saddened not to have the ladies and u21's internal team trials there is an up side which is that there will be more tables available for flyers on the Friday and Saturday, I would guess that I will be able to hear the screams of joy from Captain Zed when he read this and I think that one or two others might be happy to hear there will be more tables for flyers.

Now we come to the bit that is the most important bit of the pre event build up the draw overview. Some years ago when I first did this, I got 28 out of the 32 group winners and 22 of the second placed teams right. Ever since then the number of tables that I predict correctly has been falling. I know most of you think it's because I am crap at predicting the results but I thinks it's been getting harder year on year.

Why is it getting harder each year? To me it's simple the teams and the players are getting stronger year on year and the by doing so are closing the gap between what is considered to be the top teams and the rest.

Anyway regardless of what I get right and wrong this is above all a fun thing and not to be taken to seriously (unless I get them right of course) I hope you enjoy as it takes me forever to write it.

So here we go with this year's opus

Table 1
Table one is the table of tradition. This year it takes on an even more significant role than just being the table where the reining champions start the defence of their title. It will be doing this of course, but this year it sees the launch of Leicester's bid to become one of the Interleague's greatest ever teams. Not only are they going for a third win, that in itself is a "hall of fame" achievement but they are also going for a record breaking third consecutive win. A quick glance at the record books will tell you that if they achieve it they will be out on their own.

Not since the days of Wolverhampton Wednesday A and Trent Trophies A have we seen a team so dominant in this event.

Leicester will feel that they are destined to pull it off, but to start the ball rolling they have to get past two obstacles in the shape of Reds 1 from Warwickshire and Taunton L.V.A from Somerset both of whom have been around the block and will realise what a mammoth task they have been handed by the draw.

I am sure that both teams will feel they are capable of knocking Leicester off track but if they are going to have a chance then the every single player from both Taunton and Reds 1 will have to bring their A game to the table If you show any weakness at all Leicester will exploit it.

First into the arena will be Reds 1. Steve Shelton will have to muster his troops to make sure they play to their best. Statistically, a large number of teams who have won the interleague get knocked out in the group stage the following year. Obviously this did not happen to Leicester last year but it might be worth Reds 1 bearing this fact in mind when they take them on.

It is also possible that some of the Leicester players might still be suffering the ill effects from the opening party of their new Club 147 venue. With the grand opening party on the 29th March, just a week before this event you can bet your life that some of the Leicester players will have overdone it.

It should also be remembered that Mark Selby will away playing in the China Open so that might be a factor as well but before writing of Leicester completely people should remember that they have won major events without the services of both Mark Selby and Tom Ford.

After saying all that above I still I feel that Leicester have gained so much experience over the past few years that they will overcome all that Reds 1 can throw at them and start their attempt to win the Interleague for a third time with a win.

That will mean that Reds 1 will be thinking that they are already out of the event when they take on Taunton L.V.A. and I suppose they will be because, in order for them to qualify they will have to beat Taunton L.V.A. by a big score and then hope that Taunton L.V.A. beat Leicester in the final group match. Not a likely combination of events.

Steve Shelton's Reds 1 might have lost the first match but the players he has available to him will have been in this position before and managed to pull it out of the fire but Roger Charles, Dave Walkingshaw & Roy Pontefract will have to produce a blinder.

As good as Taunton L.V.A. are I don't think they will have what it takes to beat Reds 1 not that it will be a stroll in the park for Reds 1 but despite losing to Leicester Reds 1 are a very capable team and would beat most teams they came across.

If as I suspect Reds 1 beat Taunton L.V.A. it will more or less hand Leicester the group by virtue of the fact that Leicester will only need the draw to progress to the last 32.

Table 2
This group is a much harder group to predict with three strong if not all conquering teams Warwickshire's Nuneaton Lions opening this group with a tough match against Wolverhampton Wednesday.

This has the making of a nip and tuck affair with Nuneaton lion's skipper Danny Evans having to make some tough team selection decisions. Wolverhampton Wednesday (West Midlands) has a team that that has remained pretty stable for a number of years with players like Chris Reckord, Clinton Lenoir, Fred Bannister, and Jamie Wylde

Although this should be a close match the greater all round strength of Wolverhampton Wednesday should be just about enough to see their way past Nuneaton Lions.

When Nuneaton Lions take on Great Yarmouth it will be they who have the greater experience with Scott Baldock, Danny Evans, Paul Webb & Alan Jones all hoping to make amends for the first match.

Great Yarmouth (Norfolk) are newcomers not only to this event but the Interleague in general with Norfolk only last year setting up their county Interleague structure. That said Nuneaton Lions shouldn't make the mistake of thinking they are typical newcomers, they are not they have experienced Norfolk county players like Andrew Moore, Daniel Glover, Robbie Ashton, Timothy Ripkey and Tom Burrell.

This intercounty experience I feel will be the deciding factor towards the end of the match when players have to cope with the pressure of ever decreasing matches and ever rising pressure. This is where I believe Norfolk's intercounty experience will kick in and steer them past Nuneaton Lions.

This will set up a winner takes all match for Great Yarmouth and Wolverhampton Wednesday. This should be a really close affair with neither team taking control of the match which could well end in 9-9 score line with Wolverhampton Wednesday going through on frame count back, leaving Great Yarmouth to sample the delights of their home town's nightlife as if they haven't done that a thousand times before.

Table 3
The opening match in this group should be a real cracker; Chester Le Street (Durham) reached the semi finals last time round at their first attempt in this event - a feat never before attained for a first time team.

Up against them will be Kent's Rochester a team that has reached the final of this event and a number of semi-finals they are one of the events top teams.

Chester Le Street has Alby Wight, Ian Staines, Marc Farnsworth & Stu Green in their line. Rochester will counter this with Dean Cole, Ian Hubbard, Ian Kettel, Jamie Kitchen, Jordan Church, Neil Ward and the sea shanty singing Willie Anderson.

In terms of big guns Chester Le Street don't match up too well but you don't reach a semi final of this event without knowing how to play as a team. I usually like to have a walk round the tables to see how things are going and this match will be on extended stay list. It has all the ingredients for a fantastic group match.

When it comes down to it though I have to go with Rochester simply because of the firepower available to them but Chester Le Street will make sure that Rochester will have a collective bloody nose.

If the third team in this group Chorlton (G.M.C.) watch that match they may feel it's all a little out of their league but each match is different so it will be up to Chorlton to Stamp their mark on Chester Le Street. Having lost the first match Chester Le Street will no doubt be on a bit of a downer but they will still be a dangerous animal.

As hard as Chorlton will try I cant see them getting the better of Chester Le Street and by the time we get to the later stages of the match there should be clear water between the two teams.

This will leave Rochester the luxury of only needing to get to the winning line first to book their place in the later stages of the event.

Table 4
This is another group that looks like being a tough one to call. Crewe (Cheshire), relative newcomers to the Interleague but with players like Dave Preece, Kevin Lloyd and Phil Malam they are a team that can do damage. They will be facing in their first match a team that has a very long history in the event in Romney Marsh from Kent.

Romney Marsh skipper Guy Ruddy has a wealth of experience to call on when it comes to picking a winning team. I think this match will go all the way and by that I mean it will probably not be decided until the final frame of the match. I think that it will be Crewe that will get the all-important win.

Evesham (Worcestershire) have been here a few times so won't be fazed by the whole thing but they will have their work cut out to beat Romney Marsh, which is what they will have to do if they are to take on Cheshire with any real hope of winning the group.

Evesham will have to added advantage of taking on Romney Marsh after they have just had the massive let down of being beaten by the odd frame. This I think will mean that Romney Marsh will be a slow starter in this match. Providing Evesham take an early advantage by winning a few frames before Romney Marsh get into gear, then things will be rosy for Evesham.

I feel that this match will be won or lost in the first few frames; if they go to Evesham then it is they who will eventually run out winners. If Romney Marsh can shake of the previous defeat and hit the ground running in this match then it will be they who go on to win the match.

Of the two scenarios I am going to go with Evesham winning and setting up a clash with Crewe.

Evesham will find that the win against Romney Marsh will give them momentum in the early stages of the match. Crewe will then start to apply some pressure and slowly wear down the defences of Evesham.

By the time we reach the final stages of the match it will be a toss up to see who wins the match. When it comes down to it I think that Evesham's early start will be just enough to see them past Crewe, even with Dave Preece, but only just.

Table 5
In group 5 Norfolk's Norwich B take on Buckinghamshire's Milton Keynes A in the opening match in this group. Norwich B will have to marshal the troops well if they are to make any impression on a Milton Keynes team, who have Adam Marlow, Keith Jones, Mark McGauley, Matt Barcock & Paul Sedman amongst others in their line up.

I can't see where Norwich B will fashion a win having to take on that lot. Although I can't say I am well versed in Norwich B's strength I do know that Milton Keynes will have a strong team and for that reason I am going for A Milton Keynes A win.

The Norwich Team will consist of Alan Lewis, Alex Gaunt Danny Gibson Dave Gaff, Gary Armstrong, Kenny Horner & Paul Bond all of whom play county so they will be be able to give Milton Keynes A a nasty shock if they perform below their norm. but I am going to say thay Milton Keyes will put in a good performace and win the match.

London's Waterloo will then take on Norwich B in the second match in this group. Norwich are likely to do somewhat better against Waterloo than they did against Milton Keynes A. having said that Waterloo have Akar Necati, Allan Formosa Frank Costello and skipper Jerry Tickell. Tickell made it to the semi final of the national mens Champion of Champions singles before losing out to Dean Wisher.

I think that this will be a tight match with Waterloo being behind for most of it but coming good in the final few frames to nick the win and send Norwich B home without a win.

This will leave Milton Keynes A and Waterloo to do battle to see which of them win the match and the group.

Whilst Waterloo will give it a good go, the overall strength of the Milton Keynes team should be enough to just shade over their London based rivals.

Table 6
This group sees another group with three good teams in it with one of them being clear favourites Shropshire's Shrewsbury B open this group with a match against Lancashire's Preston South. Shrewsbury's line up should include Adam Sykes, Callum Wright, Chris Wright, Jon Sykes, Sam Wright and Steve Booth.

Preston South has a really strong looking line up with Andy O'Hara, Gareth Hibbott, Jason hill, John Rimmer, Lee Clough and Nick Davey. That lot on the face of it will take some beating but in Shrewsbury B they will be taking on a team that is used to playing strong teams because they come from the same county as Dawley A. I am not saying that Shrewsbury will win but they will know how to make it very difficult for Preston South.

In the end though, Preston's pure class should be enough to overcome a spirited fight from the Shropshire lads.

This will mean that East Yorkshire's Driffield will be Shrewsbury's next opponents. Driffield's skipper Adrian Walton believes he has one of the strongest sides they have brought to Yarmouth and given the two teams in their group its definitely the best time to have your strongest team.

Having lost the match Shrewsbury will want to make sure that they win this one so Adi's warriors will need to be in top form. Driffield's Yarmouth seasoned old boys like Adrian Walton, Bob Chard & Neil Rookes are going to be where burden of responsibilities will lie. I have referred to the drinking culture of this team in preference to winning matches in the past and maybe this time will be the time that they nail that particular myth to the wall.

How Driffield will fare could well be determined by how Shrewsbury start off, if Shrewsbury take a early lead then it will be difficult for Driffield to overhaul the lead. If Driffield can keep pace in the early stages then the confidence will grow and make Shrewsbury wonder if they will win the match.

I think that Driffield might just pinch this one from under the noses of Shrewsbury and set up a group decider against Preston South.

In the final match of the group Preston South will have been watching what happened in the previous match and worked out how to tackle Driffield. Although Driffield may well have played with one of their strongest line up for a few years. They are not going to get too much change from Lee Clough, Gareth Hibbott, Nick Davey and John Rimmer.

Sadly for Driffield, I can't see Preston South allowing Driffield the chance to get to close to them and I think that Preston South will book their passage to the last 32 before the scheduled 18 frames have been completed.

Table 7
This group has at least two top notch teams involved and St Albans (Hertfordshire) get to play one of them in the opening match namely Pilkey's from West Yorkshire.

This match might be a bit of a David v Goliath match and I know the role each of these teams will play in the match.

St Albans are a team packed with players who play County, past and present such as Andy Barker, Gordon Fyvie, Paul Wyatt, Tony Hawes, Tony Herman, Gary and Kieron Marron.

That little lot might think they will do ok and in most cases probably would but facing them in the Pilkey's line up will be Arfan Dad, Lee Vause, Paul Burrow and one Chris Melling. If this were a boxing match then there would be questions asked about the difference in the relative fighting weight between the two combatants.

I am not saying that St Albans will be out of their depth, with all those county players you would expect them to take every chance they get. The issue is really about how many chances Pilkey's will let them have. In my opinion it won't be that many and certainly not enough to win the match.

Things won't get any easier either when St Albans take on the third team in the group Godalming.

Godalming have Andy Sutherland, Daniel Martin, Darren Dodds, Dave Tootill, Mark Mault, Max Brooker & Nick Booth in their line up and together they make up a sizable chunk of a very experienced team.

I can't see St Albans doing too much against this team either, again it's not about how good or bad St Albans are it's got more to do with the pure strength of the team they are facing. Godalming regularly reach the later stages of the event and it always takes a good team to get the better of them.

This group may well come down to the frames Pilkey's and Godalming beat St Albans by, each frame Godalming or Pilkey's beat St Albans by is a frame to the good.

When Godalming take on Pilkey's both teams will know they will have to be wary of the other, both of them will be expecting to win but one will have to lose even if it takes a play off to separate the teams.

This will be a great match to be involved in and it will be a good one to watch as well but in the end I think it will be Godalming that manage to pip Pilkey's to the post but one thing for sure is that which ever team wins the other team that would have expected to got to the business end of the tournament will be going home early.

Table 8
The opening match in this group sees Cheshire's Northwich take on East Yorkshire's Howden. I have to admit to knowing little about both these teams so it seems silly to try to predict a winner based on knowledge when I don't really have any.

Kev Barry the Northwich captain, I am sure thinks he has the team to travel a long way in this event. At the same time Mike Eddon skipper of Howden will feel just the same about his team.

I have to make a prediction on who will win this one and in the absence of any useable knowledge on my behalf I will go for Northwich.

This would mean that Howden would have to take on P.J.'s Stourbridge any lack of knowledge on the first two teams is made up for by the fact that I know a great deal on the third team in the group. P.J.'s Stourbridge are one of the best Interleague teams in the country led by Paul Dunkey. This team has some of the best players in the country in it's line up with household names like Ben Swinnerton, Hitten Patel, Jarod Griffiths, Mick Hill, Neil Raybone, Pat Ward, Richie Foxall & Rob Chilton it's difficult to think the can be beaten by anyone but history has shown us, as good as this line up is in paper they can be beaten. Unfortunately for Howden and Northwich history also shows us that it is usually not until a semi final that a team gets the better of them.

I am not going to go against history for this group; history makes a much better source of a teams chances of winning a group than I ever will do.

Table 9
Sees Kettering (Northants) take on South Yorkshire's Miscues and this should be an interesting opener to the group with the Kettering team consisting of Bob Love, Danny Evans, Captain Dermot Lally, Graham Berruto, Jay Patrick & Leon Oakes. Whilst Miscues team should include some quality players as well led by Nick Woolerton so this should be a good match to be part of.

Miscues are a new team from South Yorkshire but in Nick Woolerton they have an experienced captain who should be able to steer them in the right direction

But when it come to the crunch I think that the greater experience of the players in the Kettering will see them through to the win but not before Miscues have made their presence felt.

Derbyshire's Glossop will then enter the fray against Miscues and I am sure that Glossop will fancy their chances. Equally Miscues will want to make amends for the defeat in the opening match.

Glossop captain, James Hardy, will hopefully have learnt a few lessons from the first match between Kettering and Miscues. His team will come from what looks like one family with Alan Roberts, Graham Roberts, Paul Roberts & Perry Roberts all in the squad these will be supplemented by Adam Clark, John Stone, & Mark Burgess.

Glossop have not played in this event before but they did play in the knock out cup in October so it won't be totally alien to them.

That said it's difficult to see them gaining enough experience in the six months since then to give them a realistic chance of getting the better of Miscues.

With Miscues beating Glossop it will mean that the Derbyshire lads will have to put in a commanding performance against Kettering to get back in the mix.

I can't see Kettering thinking too much on that plan though, their idea will no doubt be to rack up the necessary frames in as shorter time as possible. Whilst neither of those two scenarios will probably come to fruition but of the two I fancy Kettering getting the closest.

Table 10
Berkshire's Bracknell & Ascot A take on N.V.P.L.A. from Northamptonshire in the group opener and it should be a fairly even contest N.V.P.L.A with skipper Ant Floyer they have a well rounded captain who knows what it's all about.

With players like Danny Welford, Dave Biseker, Micky Mullens and Neil Ward they will prove to be a tough nut to crack.

The Bracknell & Ascot line up will feature Danny Oliphant Steve Ring Mick Worsfold and captain Dave Bryant.

Of the two teams N.V.P.L.A wins hands down on number of times they have appeared in these finals. But number of appearances does not count when it comes to winning matches.

This tussle looks to me to be another of too tight to call matches but when you look at the two teams in depth then it looks like N.V.P.L.A has the stronger squad. That of course does not mean they are going to beat Bracknell & Ascot it just means that if they play to their potential they should have just enough to get their noses in front.

That will mean that Bracknell & Ascot will get to go straight back on and take on Cambridgeshire's Ely.

Skipper Dale Parson, having just returned from a skiing trip will be refreshed and raring to go. Ely usually put in a good account of themselves and I see no reason to expect anything less this time round and with players returning to the line up like Phil Harrison, who is in a rich vein of form at present having won the recent Riverside £500.00 a man event then we have Iain Aldous, Jamie Jamieson, Richard Wharton & Stu McPherson.

All more than capable cue men. The one downer on the Ely team is their propensity to slow starting, it has caught them out once or twice before but once they are warmed up they can do some real damage on the pool table.

Even with a slow start, I would expect to see Ely coming through once the stagger has evened itself out.

This will mean Ely will take on N.V.P.L.A for the right to march into the last 32. N.V.P.L.A if they can steel a march on Ely they will have a real chance of winning this match but in order to steal that march they will have to negate Phil Harrison since, I doubt that I am giving anything away here, he is the usual opener for his team

If N.V.P.L.A fail to deal with Phil Harrison then I believe that will be the impetus for Ely to go on and win this match but they might have to wait until the match is almost over before finally winning through.

Table 11
This group sees a new team to the event in the shape of Accrington but don't be mislead by the team name this is a highly experienced team and you only have look at the team members to see how good they really are amongst their ranks are Andy Sudworth, Dave Robinson, Gary Close, Nathan Bridges & Simon Fitzsimons. With a line up like that this team could give the great All'oas a run for their money.

When you look at their opponents you will see much the same thing, we don't often see Afford here but we certainly see most of their players on a regular basis. In their line up they have Andy Critchelow, Bruce Higham, Anthony Hazledine, Mark Copeland & Phil Condliffe.

Looking at those two line up this should be a battle royal with what looks like a fag paper between them. I would like to say this will be a draw but it will be the nature of this match that one of the teams will take a 2/3 frame lead and that will be the end of the match as a contest. Mainly because once a lead has been established it will not be let go.

The team I think that are the most likely to do this is Accrington

That will mean that Afford will be straight back on against biggleswade. Biggleswade are made up from past and present Bedfordshire county players like Chris Dilley, Colin Welch, Mark Kempson, Paul Frith, Richard Wall and Tony Fatizzo.

Even with that pedigree I think that the Bedfordshire outfit may well find the going tough. Teams from Staffordshire are generally accepted to be very hard to break down and having just been beaten by Accrington they will be coming out with a point to prove.

Biggleswade will give Afford a game but the will of the Staffordshire boys to win will see them over the winning line.

Accrington will then only need to avoid defeat to progress and despite Biggleswade's best efforts to come away with a win I can't see them getting close enough to the Lancashire outfit to ever made it look like it might happen.

Table 12
This group is one of those rare groups where all three teams have a history in this event as long as your arm and all three are proven group winners. Littlehampton Select (Sussex) and Nuneaton (Warwickshire) are first to do battle Littlehampton Select captain can chose from some experienced Yarmouth veterans like Ashley Holmes, Pedro Campos & Russell Quorn.

Nuneaton will feature Andy West, Ben Gilbey, Mark Chapman & Scott Varden so this should be enough to make this a very interesting tussle and like so many others going on at the same time it will be a tight match. When it comes down to it though, I feel that Nuneaton will just have the edge over Littlehampton Select.

It may not be until the end of the match that Nuneaton finally get the better of Littlehampton Select.

This will mean that Barking Phoenix will then join in the battle against Littlehampton Select. Barking Phoenix are one of those teams that can blow hot and cold at any given time and until they play you never know quite what you are going to get.

One thing is for sure though they are a very dangerous outfit when they fire on all cylinders. This is because they have experienced players like Steve Adams, Rob Gould, Wayne Pardon along with some young guns like Tony Pointer & James Shadimier.

I think that the lie in for Barking Phoenix will be enough to give them the edge over Littlehampton Select but just like the first match it won't be plain sailing for the Essex outfit as Littlehampton Select won't roll over and just as in the first match it may have to wait until the final frame for Barking Phoenix to win through.

This will mean that Barking Phoenix will take on Nuneaton for the right to progress through to the last 32. And like the other matches in this group I get the feeling that it will go right to the death with Nuneaton winning the all important frame. However this group is so evenly matched that it wouldn't surprise me if all the matches ended as 9-9 draws and a three way play off is needed to separate the teams.

Table 13
This group opens with City of Leicester against Hampshire's Gosport B and both teams will be looking for the win. As just about every team will tell you winning the first match is just so important. Not only does it give you a break in between matches it also piles the pressure on the team you just beat. The oncoming third team in the group is also aware that only a win will do.

This is probably why so many opening matches are tight affairs and this one will be no different with both teams winning frames but with neither team being able to make the decisive break. This game looks to have a draw written all over it.

This will mean that Luton Elite will be handed a golden opportunity to steal the march on the other two teams if they can produce a win.

A flip of the coin will decide which of the two teams gets a rest and which goes back in to battle. For the purposes of this overview I am going to go for City of Leicester going back to the table.

Luton Elite would appear to be the strongest team in this group with players like Alan Shields, Darren Nolan, Paul Cox and old war horse Terry Teivans in the line up they certainly appear to have the fire power to get the better of City of Leicester.

This will mean that when they take on Gosport B they will only need to avoid defeat to progress. This is where winning your first match becomes the stepping stone to the group win as you get to chances to win the group, firstly outright by reaching the required frames where you cant be beaten or by drawing the match both results ensure you progress if you win your first match. Fail to do that and only the win will give you a chance.

In this case I doubt that Luton Elite will need a draw to get them through I see them reaching the winning line with frames to spare.

Table 14
Oxfordshire's Witney take on West Yorkshire's Macmillan in the first match in this group, Witney have Chris Chapman, Chris Jones and Tim Williamson in their line up so they won't be pushovers. The Macmillan team has no names that spring out at you but I am sure Amjid Mahmood, Gary Greenwood, Paul Malloy & Richard Needham may not concur with that.

The rights and wrongs of the above statement will be decided on the pool table and to that end I think it will be Witney that come out on top of this particular encounter.

Then it will be the turn of Trent Trophies B to join the battle and whilst the team may be tagged as a "B" team they are not to be taken lightly do so and you will come unstuck. In the Trent Trophies B team are Dean Rush, Ollie Booth, Ryan Cope and John Clowes all of whom are well used to playing in the big events.

With the experience in the Trent Trophies B team it's hard to see where Macmillan will be able to make their mark. But if they don't its back to the bar and start working on October's team.

I can see no further than a Trent Trophies B win in this match they just always find a way to win their particular group and to be honest I can't see Witney having what it will take to oust Trent Trophies B out of the top spot in this group.

So it's sorry to the two other teams in this group but on the bright side they will have plenty of time to get ready for the Yarmouth nightlife.

Table 15
This group could be an interesting group, it opens with a match between Deal A (Kent) and South Yorkshire's Dinnington and the two teams would appear to be evenly matched so a real north v south tussle. The Dinnington line-up will come from Alan Dale, Glen McKay, Ian Bradley, Jimmy Winsborough, John Carswell, Malc Kelwick, Mark Lancashire, Mark Singleton, Russell Oxley, Terry Stevenson, Tony Garner and skipper Vince Ley. Of the two teams I think that Deal has to slighty stronger team in depth which will in the end be the deciding factor.

But it may well be only decided in the final frame of the match. That will mean that Dinnington will stay on the table and await the arrival of Leicester City, the third team in this group, it will be a bit easier for Dinnington to play their own game in this match but I think it will go much the same way as the first match and be very tight. This time though I think that Dinnington will get what they just missed out on in the first match - the win.

Unfortunately, for Leicester City that means that they will be going into the final match of the group with both hands tied behind their backs. Having lost their first match they take on Deal knowing that only a win will be good enough. Deal needing only to avoid defeat will take it easy and do nothing that will put their qualification at risk.

Table 16
Cumbria's Whitehaven are a new team to the Interleague so I don't know how good they are in terms of the Interleague they are obviously very good in Cumbria's Interleague set up.

Amongst Whitehaven's players will be Alan Mcleod, Carl Ennis, Dave Todd and skipper Grant Porter.

Their opponents in the opening match will be St Johns (Worcestershire). They usually put in a reasonable performance without making too many waves so I would expect Dave Moss, Dave Whitehouse, Fred Tandy, Scott and Shane Surridge to have a bit too much savvy for Whitehaven.

This will mean that Leicester Lions will then take on Whitehaven, this I feel will be a match that Whitehaven will be capable of winning but whether they do or not will depend on the form of Leicester Lions players like Carolyn Bowkett, Charlene Gibson, Chris Kirk, Emma Senior, the female contingent of the Leicester Lions side. If they play to form then I can't see Whitehaven winning but if they don't it will be back in the melting pot, that's not to say that if Leicester Lions lose it will be the girls fault, it means they will be pivotal in the success of their side.

I think that despite what I wrote above it will be Leicester Lions that win and set up the group decider between themselves and St Johns (Worcestershire).

When the two teams meet to decide the group it will be a tense match with neither side really being able to shake of the attentions of the other but as the match draws to a conclusion and with the frame count rising it will be St Johns (Worcestershire) that eventually get their noses in front and win the match by the odd frame

Table 17
On this table we have Stockport (G.M.C.) coming up against one of the stronger teams in the event in Frank Smith. Now when you can pick your team players like Andy Breen, Dean Wisher, Mark Thrussell, Neil Toms and Sean Halligan amongst others you might expect that you should be able to get through the group stage.

As far as Stockport is concerned I can't see them giving Frank Smith too much hassle. In fact each frame that Stockport win should be a treasured item because I don't see them winning too many in this match.

That means that Corn Exchange (Derbyshire) will take on Stockport in the second match. I don't think that Corn Exchange will be as tougher experience for Stockport as Frank Smith was but I still see the same end result and that means a Corn Exchange win.

So the group will be between Frank Smith and Corn Exchange on paper this looks a bit of a one-sided encounter but Corn Exchange with Craig Bousfield, Craig Lakin, Dave Oxtoby, Ed Key, Jamie Pegg and Jon Shapland have put in some reasonable performances in recent events and now would be a good time to show they can compete with the best.

It won't be easy but if you are going to be one of the big boys and Corn Exchange certainly want to be you have to take out one of the old guard to get yourselves noticed.

When it comes down to it you don't have to look pretty when playing a team like Frank Smith but you do have to take any chances that are given if you are going to beat them.

Personally, I can't see Corn Exchange doing it so it's Frank Smith for me

Table 18
Group 18 starts with a Kent versus Lancashire match when Folkestone take on Wigan. There would seem to be only one winner of this match and I can't see it going Folkestone's way. The reason for this assumption is based on the two teams previous records in this event. Wigan are steeped in Interleague glory whilst Folkestone have yet to make a real impression on the event.

When you look at the Wigan line up it's easy to see why they do so well. They have one of the longest serving team line-ups in the Interleague it seems like they have been together for ever. Wigan were playing with much the same team in the old rules days when matches were over 9 frames and could go on forever Wigan's team should consist of Carl Bromley, Dave Arstall, Dave O'Shaungnessy, Geoff Harrison, Ian Davenport, Lee Bridge, Shaune Dawber and Wayne Dutton to name but a few.

This will mean Folkestone will stay on the table and play Nottingham which I think will be an even contest with Folkestone coming out on top.

This will mean that Nottingham will have to beat Wigan in order to have any chance of progressing in the event. As hard as Nottingham try to get the better of Wigan I can see that the Lancashire team with all their experience will just make sure that Nottingham are kept at arms length and Wigan will eventually put the group to bed with a second win.

Table 19
This group has Croydon (Surrey) taking on Kendal (Cumbria) Croydon Captain Gary Swettenham will we able to pick from Kyle Pickett. Mark Harley-Miller. Rod Altes & Sean Kelly.

Whilst in the line up for Kendal Ian Preston will have the choice of Adrian Ediss, Alan Richardson, Andrew Armitsfield, Shaun O'Sullivan to choose from.

Kendal have one of the longest journeys to get here at some 300 miles or a 600 mile round trip to get them home again so the most important thing for them will be to make the trip worth while. Such is the draw of the event that team are prepared to make such a long journey just to be a part of the Interleague.

The enjoyment part may well prove to be the important part as I can see Kendal struggling to overcome Croydon, whose journey here is strangely enough is as near as makes no difference never mind half the distance that Kendal will have to endure.

I doubt that Croydon will care too much about the length of journey that Kendal have had to make and so it should be I suppose, but it does seem cruel that a team should travel so far only to lose their first match.

After the joy of the first match Kendal will have the unenviable task of trying to keep their hopes alive against Nottinghamshire's Sun Valley, for the benefit of those who are unaware of the strength of Sun Valley pop over to the archive section of the site and see what sort of record this team has in the event.

For those who do know about the team but not the players Sun Valley will be chosen from amongst the following players Baydon Jackson, Chris Rigby, Clint I'Anson, Dave Atherley. Jim I'Anson, Lee Howitt, Liam Stanley & Neil Jones.

That lot will take some beating and sadly for Kendal I can't see them being up to the task so it will be a fruitless journey in terms of winning pool matches for Kendal but it should be full steam ahead for the social and enjoyment side of the weekend for the boys from Cumbria.

This will mean that Croydon will be next in line to try and take the sting out of Sun Valley's tail but although they will get closer than Kendal they still won't have enough at the back end of the match to complete the task.

As far as Sun Valley are concerned it's business as usual and for the other two teams in the group it's back to the bar to talk about if only!!

Table 20
Table 20 sees another new arrival to the Interleague family, Lancashire's Clitheroe whose team will be chosen from Adrian Dugdale, Andy Blackburn, Dave Parkinson, Eric Barnes, Ian Harle & Ian Townson amongst others.

Their first opponents will be London's Waterloo 2 who are making their debut in the event, although they did attend the Knock Out Cup last time round, and got a good feeling for just how tough this event is.

With both teams being a newbie the odds are that one of them will come out of this match a winner and my feelings go with Waterloo 2.

Derbyshire's Ilkeston will then enter the battlefield against Clitheroe. Ilkeston, as a team, are not exactly old hands at the Interleague but they have reached the last 16 of the KO cup in 2004 so they will understand what is required of them and for that reason I make them the odds on winners of this match.

This years Ilkeston team consists of Anthony Adkin-Walker, Chris Holmes, Craig Bishop, Jed Eaton. & John McMahon.

Assuming that Ilkeston put Clitheroe to the sword it will mean that Ilkeston will take on Waterloo 2 to see which of them lives to fight another day. This should be a tight match as Waterloo 2 will be buoyed by their win in the first match and Ilkeston will feel confident that they can deal with anything Waterloo 2 can throw at them.

This looks to be another of those matches that will go to the wire because neither team will be able to steal a march on the other and frames will be traded on a one for one basis but for me it will be Ilkeston that will win the frame that makes it impossible for Waterloo 2 to come back.

Table 21
This table sees one of those encounters that the neutrals love to see in the group stage but the teams involved would rather be drawn in a different group. As a warm up the big encounter West Midlands Small Heath take on Bicester Select from Oxfordshire.

The Bicester Select team will come from Alan Bremner, Bob Hines, Dave Crawford, Lewis Bland, & Nick Gaul to name but a few.

Small Heath will pick from Andy Watts, Ant Death, Dave Bridgewater, Dave Preece, Kev Jackson, Lee Hazelhurst & Liam Driver. This may well be one of the most focused teams Small Heath has brought to the finals.

They beat P.J.'s Stourbridge in the county section of their Interleague and come here as West Midlands Champions, a role that P.J.'s Stourbridge normally reserve for themselves. If Small Heath bring the form that brought them here in the first place then Bicester Select may well be on to a hiding to nothing.

I hope this isn't the case because the tighter this particular group is the more of a spectacle this group it will be for the rest of us. No matter how close Bicester Select get to holding Small Heath I think the win is beyond them and Small Heath should complete phase one of their assault without too much fuss.

As if that wasn't bad enough Bicester Select will then have to take on another Interleague giant in the shape of Tolworth. They can call on the services of amongst others Dean Reeve, Frank Strivens, Jason Norris, Matt Cooke, Paul Wildman & someone great things are expected of Steve Petty. With such an array of talent on offer to captain Frank Strivens it is almost impossible to see what Bicester Select has in their ranks to stop this juggernaut.

Once Tolworth have got shot of the attentions of Bicester Select all eyes will turn to the heavy weight bout of the round Tolworth verses Small Heath.

This is going to be another of those crackers that only a random draw can produce and is a compelling argument for not introducing a seeded draw. If seeding was used both these teams would be seeded in with the top teams in the event and therefore not have to meet until the last 32.

I am sure that on seeing this draw both teams would be in favour of seeding but for the rest of us this is what makes the group stage so special. One of these giants of the Interleague has to go out here.

That in turn will leave space for another team to step up to the plate and fill the gap left by the demise of one of these teams.

This really is a "fag paper between the teams" tussle and I find it hard to say which of the two is the more likely of the two to go through but overall I have to come down on the side of Tolworth who look like they just shade it in the fire power ratings.

Table 22
Sees Kent's Gravesham take on Durham's Horden in group 22. Horden's team will consist of Brian Lee, Colin Pond, Darren Jones, David Storey & John Bourne. Although they are not regulars here they have enough experience to know what to expect. Their opponents Gravesham on the other hand have bags of experience and should have enough ability to negotiate a way past Horden. Which will mean that Horden will stay on the table and take on E.H.P.L.

The E.H.P.L. team will be selected from Alan Robinson, Dave Barbrook, Dave Langham, Lee Pateman, Mark Beesley, & Mark Gibson and with the others in the team have what it takes to do some damage. However, they won't or at least history tells me that they won't. Pound for pound they have a team that would compete with most teams but for some reason they do not appear to be able to turn their talent in to match wins.

That said, they should have enough to show Horden where the door is but such is the wayward form of the team when they get here that it wouldn't surprise me to see that they lose this match.

When East Herts take on Gravesham for the group it should be an interesting struggle for both teams with Gravesham doing their best to win frames and E.H.P.L. doing their best to throw them away.

You would have thought that with such a combination Gravesham should walk away with it. But there is so much latent talent in the E.H.P.L. team that if only one half performs to their ability then this will still be a match and a match they can win.

This is where history comes in to it as a team E.H.P.L. have lost the knowledge of how to win a group so I am going to go for Gravesham to win the group.

Table 23
Here's another one to sit round the table and if your not involved in a match yourself watch to see how it pans out.

Medway (Kent) have bags of experience here and will pick their team from Barbara Taylor, Chris Prodromou, Lee Crowhurst, Les Boddy. Neil Bernard & Phil Waghorn.

Their opponents from Leeds have been adding players to their squad to make them possible contenders; their team will be picked from Andy Richardson, Darren Appleton, John Betts, Kevin Barton, Lee Betts, Mark & Paul Buck along with Rob Wilson.

Now you might have noticed, if you were paying attention, one or two names in there not normally associated with the Leeds team and they happen to be the reason that Leeds might have moved up from a good team looking for a good run to possible winners.

Any way without these recent acquisitions Medway would be the favourites to get the better of Leeds but with the additions you would have to say that Leeds will beat Medway - even with Barbara Taylor in their line up.

Medway won't find their next opponents a lot easier than their first ones, they will have to go back on to the table against Shropshire's Dawley B. Dawley B are a team that would expect to make it through to the latter stages of the event and with the players available to them I would expect them to give Medway a second dose of reality.

With Medway out of the running it should come down to a straight head to head between Leeds and Dawley B and I suspect there could be some real fireworks in this match, and not necessarily on the table, as Leeds pile on the pressure and Dawley edge ever closer to going out of the event.

I think that it will look pretty bleak early on as Leeds play their big guns up front and once a good lead has been established it will be left to the rest of the teams to give Leeds the win.

Table 24
This group should be a fairly even match up for all the teams involved and first up will be West Midlands' Lye & Stourbridge against Suffolk's Ipswich B. Lye & Stourbridge always manage to bring a strong team to the party and this time round they will be bringing all the usual suspects.

Ipswich will be picking from Darren Murphy, Keith Harris, Neil Twomey, Robbie Williams and Stacey Tite all of whom should be in their line up.

I would have thought this match will start of with the teams trading frames on a one for one basis but as the match progresses Lye & Stourbridge will tighten their grip and build up a few frame lead which Ipswich, try as they might, will not be able to claw back. Which will mean that the available frames for Ipswich to win will evaporate meaning that Lye & Stourbridge will win the match.

Ipswich will be straight back on again to face Berkshire's finest Renegade A led by Rob Uzzell. Making up the Renegade A team will be Alan Kane, James Harness, John Sheil, Mark Murphy, Ray Wooton and Sefton Payne. But ominously, no Eddie Barker. Whilst this might make the team a bit weaker as a unit there should still be enough in the tank to have a pop at Ipswich.

Just as in the first match Ipswich will keep pace with Renegade A for most of the match but towards the back end where you still need strong players Ipswich will start to falter and the same result as with Lye & Stourbridge will happen. That will mean that Ipswich will be out with two losses.

This will leave Lye & Stourbridge and Renegade A to fight it out for a place in the last 32 like a lot of the final group matches it will be a tight affair and frames will be hard to come by and it could well come down to a situation where one of them has reached the score of 9-8 and only need the final frame to secure the win. But what normally happens it does not go the way of the team in front and we have a play off situation and this is what will happen here I think.

Of the two teams I think Lye & Stourbridge will be better placed to win the play off and send Renegade off to the bar to lick their wounds.

Table 25
This group will see Hampshire's Gosport A take on Suffolk's Lowestoft Town Select in the opening match of this group. I the Gosport team you have Dan Wells, Gary More, George Swannack, Ian Hutton, Joel Pickersgill and Steve Parker.

Facing them will be Calum King, Keith Peck, Kingsley Peck, Matt Underdown and Troy Jacob. I think it's fair to say that neither of these teams have players that jump out at you but both teams are good enough to make regular trips here so they are obviously steady teams.

Just like a whole host of matches that have gone before there won't be that much to choose between the teams and it looks like one of those frame trading affairs where neither team can quite get to a point where they take a commanding lead.

Because of the tit for tat nature of the match each team will have points where they think they have the upper hand only to find the other hits back and it's all square again.

Of the two teams I would guess that Gosport A will be the more likely to find the final frame needed to win this encounter.

That will mean that Lowestoft Town Select will be fighting for their lives when they take on Warwickshire's Reds Elite. The Warwickshire team is probably the best of the Warwickshire contingent and with players like Baz Hinde, Callum Mullhern, Liam Farrell, Mark White, Martin Kirby, Mick Adams, Steve Mullanm, Sunny and Surinder Singh to name but a few it's not to difficult to see why they are a respected team both within the County and the national stage.

If the first match in this group was nip and tuck this one shouldn't be I would expect Reds Elite to stamp their authority on this match from the start. They should be able to take a comfortable lead early on and then just make sure they don't take their eye of the ball. If they do Lowestoft Town Select will make them pay dearly.

With all the experience available to Reds Elite it's hard to envisage a situation where they take their opponents so lightly that they allow them to catch them up or even overtake them. For me it's Reds Elite all the way in this match.

With Lowestoft Town Select out the picture Reds Elite will focus on their next target, which in this particular instance will be Gosport A. whilst Gosport struggled to get past their first opponents they will give Reds elite a run for their money and may even give Reds Elite a shock or two during the match.

But in the end it will be Reds Elite that come out of the match as winners and progress through to the last 32 leaving Gosport to rue the missed opportunities that had in this match. For Red Elite the win will be no more than what they expected at the start of play.

Table 26
Not to sure what to make of this group but Shropshire's Dawley A will take on a team that is here for the first time. If I were to give Berkshire's Hammersmith captain a bit of advice it would be spend a few minutes looking at the archive section of the Interleague and take in just how good their opponents have been over the years and to make note of the fact that are quite likely to hit you hard if you don't make the most of any opportunities that come your way.

That's a lot easier said than done and countless teams before Hammersmith have tried and failed to do just that. Dawley's team will consist of Craig Reynolds, Dale & David Blagbrough, Ian Duffy, Ian Eldridge, Keith Blackham and Scott Yardley. That might not mean much to Hammersmith right now but I think they will remember those names after they have played them.

Hammersmith's team will be selected from the following players, Chris Ayres, Dean Preston, Frank Callaghan, Joe Kelly, John Barry, Kat Pollard, Kenny Bryant, Lee Creaven, Michael Hefferman, Neil Brady, Paul Taylor, Steve Monniynan and Tom Drewell. Without being disrespectful to Hammersmith there aren't any names I recognise there. For them to be able to topple the mighty Dawley would rank amongst the all time great achievements in the interleague.

I am sure they will feel they can do it, and so they should, but they might change their opinion once they have played them from one of new team enthusiasm to one of we were never going to beat that lot. In doing so they will have learnt lesson one in the Interleague bible. Thou shall not beat a top 8 team in the group stage.

Hammersmith will then move on to Cambridge Elite to try and restore their confidence, the Cambridge team will consist of Adam Amstrong, Barry Lindsay Craig Benstock, Ian Norris, Jim Munnelly, Johnathon Middleton, Mathew Bradford Michael O'Boyle, Mick Conlon, Paul Stelmazuk, Rob Cork, Simon Stepney and William Scott.

From the look of that line up it's clear that the majority of the team are actively playing county pool so Hammersmith's road to recovery may not start with this match.

I would expect a Cambridge team with that standard of player to be a bit too hot for Hammersmith to handle. It won't be as brutal as the first match but I think that Cambridge would have enough in their armoury to hold a feisty Hammersmith team at arms length.

If Hammersmith go away having learnt just how hard frames are to come by in the national finals of this event they will have gone a long way to become a team that can compete later on.

Dawley will find Cambridge Elite a bit harder to get the better of than they did against Hammersmith but as I have said so many times before it's at the back end of any match where the overall strength of a team will be judged. Although I see Cambridge keeping pace with Dawley in the early to middle stages of the match I cant see being able to sustain their momentum through to the end of the match.

I see Dawley having the resources to make the decisive break away from Cambridge in the latter stages of the match and put the match out of Cambridge's reach and marching on to the last 32 as per usual.

Table 27
This group has three teams in it that are all more then capable of beating the other two on their day so it should be a fascinating group to be part of Redditch take on Ipswich in the first match.

The Redditch line up will come from Dan Brazil. Danny O'Donell, Ian Roberts Ian Underhill, John Erskine, John Jo O'Donell, Ralph Newell, Simon Underhill and Tom Hamilton.

The Ipswich squad will come from Alan Mower, Dylan Thomas, Mark & Paul Keeble, Matt Purnell, and for the last in Ipswich colours Michael Puntschart, Ned Acton, Phil Cullingford and Richard Twomey.

The Ipswich squad looks formidable but Redditch know what its all about as well and will give then a run for their money of the three teams involved Ipswich has the better overall record in the event but has been known to have a glass chin at times.

The Ipswich chin is most vulnerable when under pressure and Redditch are a team that will apply some real pressure to the collective chin of Ipswich. My only real doubt about Redditch is can they keep the pressure on Ipswich for long enough to produce the goods.

When it comes down to it I think that the tractor boys will have just enough fuel in the tank to manoeuvre they way past a spirited Redditch.

The Redditch and Surrey Warriors tussle will be mach the same encounter as the first match of this group With both teams trading punches trying to find the knock out blow but neither quite packing the punch needed to deliver the knock out blow.

The fact that Redditch were involved in the first match will probably end up in being the deciding factor in this encounter is so much as that having gone through it once already they will have a better idea of how to deliver heavier blows to their opposition.

That will give Ipswich an enormous fillip because when they take on Surrey Warriors they will know they only have to avoid losing to secure a berth through to the last 32. This is the luxury of winning your first match affords you whilst at the same time giving your opponents a mountain to climb. Whilst Surrey Warriors can choose from the experience of Danny Taggart, Jason Retter, Martin Lambert, Neal Rolfe, Richard Lambert and Simon LeMarchant. For Surrey Warriors it will still be a very tall mountain they have to climb and there is always the chance that no matter how good a climbers your team are you are always likely to lose one or two of your climbers on the way up.

With such a gap to be made up between the winner and loser of a match the mountain becomes much higher and much steeper to climb. One slip can spell disaster and for this reason I believe the task facing Surrey Warriors will be beyond them not because they can't beat Ipswich of a level playing field but because it's asking too much of them to reverse what happened in the first two matches.

Table 28
West Midlands' Darlaston are appearing here for the first time and get to take on Sussex's Crawley on the group curtain raiser. Crawley are a fairly regular attendee to the interleague and with players like Adam McSharry, Allan Morton, Bob Cooper Cliff Berry, Gary Davis, John Westbrook in the line up you will be confident of producing a result or two.

Darlaston's squad which consists of Amy Cowes, Craig Harvey, Danny Moore Ian Smith, James Rasmussen, Jeff Owen, Kez Cresswell and Sanjay Pudden have some players in there that do have considerable experience so it's hard to treat them as newbies.

The big question is do they have enough as a team to overcome Crawley. Looking at the players list Darlaston have more players that I recognise from past events. Whilst Crawley will be expecting to win this match Darlaston will have the element of surprise on their side. Crawley won't be expecting a team with quite so much experience to be a new team.

That surprise factor could well end up being the all-important factor in the encounter that allows Darlaston to win frames and leave Crawley wondering why they keep losing frames.

If Darlaston do win the opening match it will mean that Crawley have to take on Wessex A. In Wessex's squad are Brian Druce, Dave Kavanagh, Gareth Manning Scott Batsford, Simon Fletcher, Sue Ramsbottom and Tom DeVulder.

That looks to be quite a strong line up and having lost the first match Crawley will do well to get anything positive out of this encounter. Crawley won't be out of their depth but might find it progressively harder and harder to keep their heads above water.

With the ammunition that Wessex have you would expect then to be able to overcome anything that Crawley will be able to throw at them but it might take until the final frame of the match to finally convince Crawley that they are going out of the competition.

This will of course set up a head to head clash between Darlaston and Wessex A where Crawley got caught in the hop in the first match Wessex, if they were watching at the time, will know that Darlaston could be a slippery fish and use their collective experience to avoid a similar fate to fate as befell Crawley.

Again this will not be a clear cut win for Wessex but a nervy and tense win that was in the balance until late on in the match but when it comes down to it the only requirement for teams like Wessex is to do what keeps you in the event not to get through looking like you can't be beaten although that is the ultimate feeling you can get as team.

Table 29
Sees Essex's Colchester take on Staffordshire's Alsager as the open match so this should be in interesting encounter between two strong teams. Colchester can call on the services of Ashley Troath, Chris Cass, Darren Sadler. Ed Mercer, Graham Bryan, Jeff Hynds, Karl Mayhew, Steve Kane & skipper Stuart Howe most of this lot are county players and the majority play in the A section so they are going to be tough to get the better of.

Staffordshire are one of the strongest pool playing counties in the country and always provide teams that compete and I see no reason for Alsager to be different. The name may be new to you but the fact they are from Staffordshire should be enough to let you know they won't be slouches. In their team will be Aaron Andrews, Carl Jackson David Jackson, David O'Reilly, David Paton, Gary O'Reilly and Tony Lennon.

Having "bigged" them up I think Colchester will eventually get the better of them because they have a stronger squad. The reason Colchester will find this mach hard to win is that teams from Staffordshire never know when they are beaten.

The attitude Staffordshire teams in general adopt is similar to the Monty Python sketch in which a person is guarding a bridge and challenging all and sundry to a fight. Various limbs get chopped of one by one but still he wont give in and even when all that is left is the torso and he is powerless to stop people from crossing the bridge still want to carry the fight to you.

To the younger ones that analogy might go over your heads but I am sure any who has seen the sketch will understand the fighting spirit that seems to be instilled in all Staffordshire teams.

That spirit won't stop Colchester from winning the match but it will give Colchester a fight right to the very end.

The High Wycombe side that will have Chris McNight, Daniel Procter, Danny Johnson, John Hardacre, John Loveday and John Woodbridge amongst others will then face Alsager and despite having just lost to Colchester will play as if they had won it slowly wearing down the will to fight.

By the time the match reaches the latter stages there could be some distance between the two teams as Alsager clock up a few frames. It might be possible for High Wycombe to mount a bit of a fight back but if they do it will be consolation frames they will be winning not frames that will turn the match round.

Having been comprehensively beaten by Alsager High Wycombe will not realy be in the mood to take on Colchester but they will have to do battle one more time and without the will to make a fight of it Colchester will quickly rack up the frames they will need to book their spot in the last 32.

Table 30
Sees Chesterfield from Nottingham take on East Leeds who's team will feature Alan Cochrane, Chris Baker, Chris Ibbotson, David Smith, Sean Monaghan and Steve Monkman.

Chesterfield will no doubt have their normal teams out so should consist of Andy Johnson, Bob Snell, Brian Gennoe, Brian Robinson, Dave Knowles, Dean Watts Gav Ward, Jordan Johnson, Luke Linacre, Mark Thomas, Shaun Wilson, Steve Evans Steve Finnegan, Steve Wilson, Tony Raynor and Wayne Parsonage. Yep their team is that big, and don't ask me how the captain, Steve Finnegan, keeps then all happy cos I have not got a clue - they must all be related or something, if you think their team is big enough wait until you see the amount of supporters the bring with them. Chesterfield usually book in some 25 to 30 people when they attend.

Anyway, back to the match Chesterfield have what I call a stealth mode which means that they usually get through to the last 16 without making a splash. They kind of suddenly appear and you can't quite work out how they did it. I know that sound stupid but they do, they win the group, then the last 32 match without making a fuss and suddenly they are there.

East Leeds has a fairly strong squad but I doubt that it will be strong enough to stop Chesterfield. Think the match will be fairly even for the most part then when East Leeds aren't looking Chesterfield win a few frames on the bounce towards the end of the match and before East Leeds realise what's happened they are look at winning the final thee frames of the match just to draw.

That might be a better way of describing Chesterfield, you feel that you should have beaten them but you have not they have beaten you and you can't quite work out how it happened.

East Leeds should have an easier time of it with Renegade B whose team should consist of Adam Heywood, Baron Staples, Dean Hardesty, Ed Rumsey, Jez Hill Joey Alpino, Luckvinder Birdy, Trevor Dias and Vikas Sabharwal.

If you look at that list you can see they have some very useful players in there but on the other hand so do East Leeds so my feeling on this one are that despite Renegade doing their best to secure the win East Leeds will stick doggedly to their task and spoil Renegade's party.

East Leeds may even take the lead at some point but Renegade will peg them back just as East Leeds will do to Renegade so that I feel this one will end up as a 9-9 draw, not really a result that will either of them too many favours but at least it means that both teams will still be in the hunt providing that Renegades can beat Chesterfield.

This will be one of those rare occasions where both East Leeds and Renegade are singing from the same song sheet, well up to a point anyway what East Leeds will want is for Renegade to win but not by a score that will knock them out by count back for Renegade it will be a case of trying to beat Chesterfield by a bigger margin as will ensure they win on count back.

What Chesterfield will be after is just to avoid defeat, that way they will win the group on three points where the other two teams will only have 1 point each

If this situation does occur then it would be very hard not to go with Chesterfield to get at least a draw but I have seen it before where a team was in a winning position, lost a few frames and the wheels completely fell off and one of the other teams went through.

It does not happen that often and it's even rarer for a team with Chesterfield's pedigree to loose the plot so completely that they end up knocking themselves out.

Table 31
This another of those tables that as a neutral you just would like to see because the first match in it could easily be the final. Weston are past winners of the event and Brighton A have made it to the final so this really is a clash of the giants.

Weston will pick their team from Alan Llewellyn, Anthony Doble, Daryl Lovegrove, Graham Hewlett, Jamie Ross, Jeff Jones, Joe Noezkay, Paul Marsh & Russell Burgess.

Brighton will come from Damian Campsey, Darren Welfare. Dean Torode Gregg Lewis, John Gillard, Jon Sanders, Lee Nelson, Moray Dolan, Paul Bailey Paul McNeil, Pete Ashman & Steve Ringsell.

With so many class players on view from both teams this really will be one not to miss. I would imagine that 90% of the frames in this tussle will be decided on one bad shot and whoever makes it will lose the frame. I dare say there will be a few no mistake frames in the mix as well. With so many good players on show the possibility will be there for every frame to be a break dish affair.

I hope the Holderness team decide to watch this match not to show them how hard their task is going to be but to show them how lucky they are to be part of this group.

For my money this will be a 10-8 win to Brighton but it really could be the same score to Weston.

When Holderness, whose team will consist of Alan Robinson, Andy Lythe, Chris Wilson, Chris Young, Darren Hughes, Dave Hanraham, Jason Welsh, Martin Fielder, Paul Bristow, Pete Broughton, Peter Everingham, Tony Gale. And Wayne Bristow takes on Weston they are going to have to look at this as an experience because Weston will be too strong for them. This might not be apparent in the early stages but as the match progresses the gap between Weston and Holderness will grow. I guess the possibility is that Weston will be so depressed at losing to Brighton that they don't take this match as seriously as they might otherwise have done bet Weston are a good team and I am sure that they will do all they can to restore some pride to the team.

Once that match is out of the way it will be Holderness verses Brighton and my feeling is that this match won't last too long.

The main reason being that that Brighton will only need to get to the winning line to become group winners. It's a shame that Holderness were drawn in a group with two quality teams but that's the draw and if they weren't there somebody else would have been.

By the same token Weston will be thinking to themselves that the draw has not done them any favours either - in just about any other group they would have made trough to the last 32.

Table 32
And so we come to the final table and like the table above there will be two teams thinking to themselves what did we do to deserve this draw.

As with the group above someone has to get drawn in to it and this time round it's Andover (Hampshire) and Cambridge K.S.R.

If you wonder why the teams would rather not have been drawn in this group the Trent Trophies a team will consist of Adam Davis, Carl Morris, Darren Henshall Darren Lightfoot, Darren Shorne, Gareth Potts, Jamie Croxton, Jamie Latham Lee Kendall, Liam White, Mark Blackshaw, Steve Bridgewood and team guru Tony Latham.

That team, in my opinion, if it could play in the World Championships would win it hands down.

If that line up does not impress you then you obviously not involved in pool to any degree. Pound for pound this is the strongest interleague team there is around at the moment. They can and indeed have been beaten in the group stage before by Colchester but that is the only time I can recall that happening.

Andover whose team is Andy Green, Chris Newman, Chris Newth, Craig Kennedy, Gerry Breen, Graham Parker, John Francis, Kev Travis, Nigel Bannan, Richard Teague and Richard Thompson. Will do well to win three frames off Trent Trophies.

Personally I hope Trent Trophies have a bad day at the office and Andover beat them but that really is not going to happen.

Once Andover has been beaten by Trent Trophies they get to play a more normal match against Cambridge K.S.R.

Cambridge K.S.R. will consist of Andy Greenley, Dave Hart, Dom Cobley Duncan Graham, Ed Savory, James Griffiths, James Mayes and Martin Early.

This is where Andover can restore some self belief as I think they will get the better of Cambridge - not by much but enough to remind themselves that they can do it.

The final match of this group will be Cambridge v Trent Trophies and I can see only one winner in this match.

It would be nice to be proved wrong in this group and as such it's up to Andover and Cambridge to rattle Trent Trophies cage. The only crumb I can offer though is that sometimes Trent Trophies can be a little slow out of the blocks.

But if you let them warm up then they will just grind you down and claw back the frames you gained, once you get your noses in front you just have to make sure every chance you get is turned in to a win for your team.

Loads of teams have tried before and failed so good luck to Andover and Cambridge K.S.R.

Tom Fahy
Tournament Director