Champ Mick beaten in the quarter-finals

Broseley’s Brezwyn was beaten by Tim Steele, of St John, who showed scintillating form to hold a 14-point handicap lead.

He had earlier recovered from a 42-point handicap to beat Alveley’s Norman Jones in the third round, knocking in breaks of 38 and 25 in the process.

That put him in the right frame of mind to take on Brezwyn, who had chased down his team-mate Rob Powell to set up the quarter-final clash.

Steele, on current form and having now knocked out the champion, is now arguably the new favourite for this year’s title.

It was also an excellent night for Chelmarsh’s Richard Lewis, the youngest player remaining in the competition.

In his third round match against Broseley’s Duncan Hems, Lewis took full advantage of his 28-point handicap advantage, dropping only six of those points by the end of the frame.

He then never looked troubled in seeing off team-mate Brian Edwards in the quarter-finals.

The other two semi-finalists will be Nick Carson, from Broseley, and Alveley’s Reg Burton.

For Carson, it proved a night of drama. First, he edged past team-mate Owen Hughes in a match which proved as tight as predicted, Carson eventually winning through on the final black.

There was then the small matter of overhauling a 49-point handicap deficit to beat Alveley’s John Wright, who had himself come through an extraordinary foul-strewn third round battle with Maddock’s Andy Garbett.

Again, the match came down to the final black, which, after some excellent safe play from both players, was left up by John for an easy pot by Nick.

Burton also came through two close frames to book his place in the final four, winning both on the pink.

The first saw him come past Chelmarsh’s Bill Dobson, before he then saw off the challenge of club-mate Tom Weaver, in a frame which saw several changes of momentum.

Burton held the upper hand in the early stages and then came through to take victory, after his team-mate had battled back to lead.

The semi-finals and the final will now be played at Alveley on Tuesday, March 26.