England produce a superb performance
ENGLAND produced a superb performance to move into the semi-finals of the World Cup of Pool for the first time.
Daryl Peach and Mark Gray triumphed 9-7 over Germany's Ralf Souquet and Thomas Engert at the Outland nightclub in Rotterdam, Holland.
In an epic encounter full of drama and tension, Peach and Gray held their nerve and now face 2007 World Cup winners China, who defeated Italy 9-2 earlier on Saturday.
England won the lag but a missed orange five from reigning World Champion Daryl Peach proved costly as Germany took an early lead.
Another England error, this time when Mark Gray failed to down the green six in the second and ruthess Germany made it 2-0.
When Ralf Souquet sunk three balls off the break in the third it looked like being 3-0 but Germany had no shot on the 2-ball so they opted to push out. But Thomas Engert over hit his effort to leave a long 2-ball on, which England accepted on their way to their first rack of the match.
In what was proving to be the high-quality encounter that had been expected, England ran out the fourth and the match was tied at 2-2.
Germany edged ahead once more after Peach scratched off the break and with a good layout on the table, the Germans did the rest.
Engert came up with an illegal break in the sixth but a missed 2-ball from Gray saw the start of a lengthy and tight safety battle. It ended when Engert misjudged an attempt and no ball hit a rail and, with ball-in-hand, England made it 3-3.
There was a good break from Gray but England soon had to play safe. Gray later left the orange 5 on and it should have been 4-3 to Germany. However, the score went the other way around as Souquet, a former World Champion and five-time World Pool Masters winner, missed a straight forward 9-ball.
Even worse for The Kaiser was that the 9-ball was left hanging over the pocket and England could not believe their luck.
That seemed to affect Souquet's confidence and he made another error in the next as a missed 4-7 combination brought England to the table again and they moved two ahead for the first time at 5-3.
However, Souquet showed his class by making a 2-9 combination for 5-4. But his team-mate Engert was next to make a surprising mistake as his attempt on the pink 4 was unsuccessful and it was 6-4.
Peach's break came up dry and Germany ran out for 6-5 before Engert also had a dry break in the next and England made it 6-6.
A poor safety from Souquet helped England take the lead and they then claimed their third in a row for 8-6 and were on the hill.
A controversial break was correctly called illegal by referee Michaela Tabb as one ball was pocketed and only one other ball went past the headstring. Peach later missed the brown seven as England faultered only two shots from victory.
That extended the match by one rack but an excellent jump shot to down the 1-ball from Gray led to England winning the tie and they held their nerve to seal an excellent 9-7 triumph.
