Hawkins quick to strike back
Snooker
Kent Spitfires will begin next summer’s NatWest T20 Blast campaign with a game against Essex at Beckenham on Sunday, July 9. The revised T20 schedule sees all the games taking place in a six-week block with the knockout stages and finals day taking place over the following two weeks. After hosting their neighbours in the Battle of the Bridge, Kent are on the road at Cheltenham to face Gloucestershire four days later ahead of a clash with Surrey at the Oval the following night Their first game at Canterbury is on Tuesday, July 18, when Gloucestershire visit for a floodlit match but the Spitfires face trips to Middlesex and Sussex before they begin a spell of four home games out of five. Somerset, Glamorgan, Sussex and Hampshire all head to Canterbury between July 27 and August 11 with a trip to Hampshire on August 1 on the diary. Unlike other teams, Kent will revert to red-ball cricket during the T20 block as they host a three-day Tour match against the West Indies at Canterbury from Sunday, August 6. The quarter-finals, will be held in consecutive days from Tuesday, August 22 until the Friday, with Finals Day set for Saturday, September 2, at Edgbaston. Visit www.kentonline.co.uk to see all of Kent’s fixtures which were released at 12am today (Friday). Barry Hawkins exorcised the demons of Sunday’s loss to Mark King by thrashing David John 6- 0 in round one of the UK Championship.
Hawkins had led 5-1 in the Northern Ireland Open final but faltered and lost 9-8 as King won his first ranking event.
But the Ditton man bounced back in style at the York Barbican on Tuesday, notching the 2016 UK Championship’s first century with a 129 in the second frame on the way to a comfortable win.
Further breaks of 60 and 62 in frames three and five were enough to see him home against a player who has not made it past the first round in a ranking event this year.
Hawkins, 37, said: “It was such a nail-biting final in Belfast. I was a bit gutted to lose after the lead I had, I felt like I threw that away a little bit. That’s not taking anything away from Mark, he played great in the evening and showed a lot of character.
“You can’t dwell on them because it’ll affect you before your next match and it was such a quick turnaround from Northern Ireland, I had to try and forget about that as quick as possible.
“It was a great week and I would’ve taken that before the tournament started. I can’t complain too much. The best way to do that is by coming back, playing snooker and winning matches again.”
He added: “John missed several crucial opportunities when handed a rare chance by Hawkins but with nerves clearly playing a part for the world No.122, it was the favourite who showed his composure.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming back from Belfast but I played pretty solid and didn’t miss much – pretty straight forward in the end.
“You can’t take anyone for granted. I have done it before and come unstuck. I needed to be sharp, treat him with the utmost respect, play the proper shots and try my best. I did that and managed to play well.
“There’s a long way to go but if I can keep the form up and keep playing well, then having a good run here would be great.”
Hawkins takes on Fergal O’Brien in the second round this weekend.
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