Let’s get the champagne bottles ready for the final showdown for teams in the Dutch premier league. Two teams in the top regions (SIS Schoonmaak and Dekker Keukens) have already earned qualification for the playoffs, but still have to fight for the positions. For all the other teams, except the already relegated Post Luchtkanalen, a wonderful climax is coming up in which all scenarios are still conceivable. The final, double weekend will be decisive for the showdown in the play-offs. In short: it’s all about 'the double' in the premier league.
How high the tension has now risen, the matches for the 20th round of play showed this Sunday. Dave Christiani won a miraculous match against Jeffrey Jorissen (15-3 down, 40-18 win), giving Dekker Keukens a win over J&F Auto's. Roland Forthomme missed a last carom against Lesley van Neyen (40-39), which meant Topbiljart Zundert still lost a precious match point against Post Luchtkanalen. Joey de Kok came back from a big deficit, but missed the equalizer against Gerwin Valentijn (Dekker won 6-2 from J&F), Berry Dallinga equalized for Dallinga against Burgmans Biljarts with 4 against Johan Roijers (where it turned out in a 5-3 win for Dallinga after 3-1 behind) and SIS Schoonmaak staggered to the finish line with a loss against Team Eekhoorn (6-2)
The conclusion after the 19th and 20th round of play is that two teams are sure of the playoffs, five teams are still fighting for two remaining places in the playoffs with SIS Schoonmaak and Dekker. Only Post Luchtkanalen has been relegated and four teams, Burgmans Biljarts, Bousema Lochem and J&F Auto's and Woonwonder are fighting for the tenth position, where a game for promotion/relegation is necessary.
Many players, especially from the top teams, often cry out that the play-offs have not been the best idea of the league leaders. Barry van Beers (Dekker Keukebs) noted today: ''There is still a nice finish, thanks to the play-offs, it's never been this exciting before.''
SIS Schoonmaak's supremacy towards the end was also not as impressive as expected. Carl Verhoeven's top Brabant team lost its third match of this season 6-2 at De Eekhoorn, after Eddy Merckx won against Peter Ceulemans (40-19 in 20) in the decisive session, but Kurt Ceulemans put up the knockout to Raymund Swertz (40-31 in 27). The knife cut is both ways: not only was victory celebrated over SIS Schoonmaak, Team Eekhoorn also climbed to fourth position after a great catch-up race.
The most bizarre match was played between Dave Christiani and Jeffrey Jorissen. Jorissen had a lightning start with 5-2-4 and a 15-3 lead. ''I went from zero feeling to my best play,'' Dave Christiani said later. The match turned in the 15th innings when Christiani made 8, 4 and 8 some moments later and finally finished with 6 and 3 for 40-18. The fast starter Jorissen even had 12 zero’s in his last 15 innings (from 15 to 18).
Dekker Keukens eventually did the best business with the 6-2 win over J&F Auto's with two other notable results. Glenn Hofman beat Barry van Beers 40-35 in 18, Henk Blauwblomme left Herman van Daalen without any chance 40-8 in 23. For SIS, only Eddy Merckx won. Frans van Kuyk beat Jean van Erp (40-36 in 39), Jerry Hermans won in a good match vs Martien van der Spoel 40-24 in 22. At Dallinga-Burgmans, Jean Paul de Bruijn won against Eddy Leppens 40-34 in 29 and Steven van Acker was the best winner against Bart Ceulemans 40-23 in 20. Cues&Darts won 6-2 vs Bousema thanks to Robinson Morales, Huub Wilkowski and Wesley de Jaeger in 25, 30 and 33 innings. The only winner for opponent Bousema was Martin Horn, who knocked Ruben Legazpi 40-32 in 21 innings.
The standings:
1 SIS Schoonmaak 19-29
2 Dekker/AP Sprundel 20-27
3 Cues&Darts/Xtreme 19-24
4 Team Eekhoorn 19-22
5 Topbiljart Zundert 19-20
6 Dallinga.com 19-20
7 Woonwonder/Hartje 19-18
8 J&F Auto's/Jorissen 20-18
9 Bousema/JBScues 19-17
10 Burgmans Billiards 19-17
11 Post Luchtkanalen 19-6.
The schedule for the double weekend, on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 May:
Saturday:
Woonwonder-Topbiljart Zundert
J&F Auto's/Jorissen-Post Luchtkanalen
Burgmans Biljarts-Bousema Lochem
SIS Schoonmaak-Cues&Darts
Dallinga-Team Eekhoorn
Sunday:
Cues&Darts-Dallinga
Topbiljart Zundert-Dekker
Post Luchtkanalen-Woonwonder
Team Eekhoorn-Burgmans Biljarts