KEVIN Basnett won his second Cumbria County Singles title in three years with a 5-3 win over Kendal’s three-time former champion Andy Milliard.

It was Milliard who was first out of the blocks with breaks of 43 and 41 to convincingly take the opening frame 93-23.

Milliard looked set to go 2-0 up thanks to a break of 67 but Basnett stuck in, however with the last five colours all in tricky positions the Workington cueist was up against it.

Forging an opportunity from a good safety shot Basnett held his nerve to clear the last five balls to pinch the frame 78-71.

The Portland Club, Carlisle was the venue to host Cumbria’s premier Snooker event and the quality of play certainly didn’t disappoint as a flurry of breaks including some fine safety play thoroughly entertained everyone.

Frame three turned out to be a one sided affair as Basnett with a break of 31 plus two other smaller contributions allowed him to take the frame, 69-11 for a 2-1 lead.

In the next it was Basnett again this time with a top break of 38 interspersed with some excellent safety play that ended up being too much for the Kendall player with the 2013 champion moving further ahead with a 76-39 victory.

A 3-1 up Basnett looked determined and after winning a small safety exchange he was in amongst the balls. A 70 break later a 4-1 scoreline looked a certainty with just 75 points remaining. Nevertheless former professional Milliard coolly delivered probably the best clearance the 60 year old championship has ever seen with a break of 72 to take the frame 72-70 and pull the score back to 3-2.

The confidence gained from his previous frames’ heroics was visible in Milliard demeanour in the next and in three visits, topped with a break of 38, the Kendall cueist drew level at 3-3 with a thumping 77-18 frame win.

At this point the pressure had well and truly mounted on the 2013 champion. However in putting the previous two frames to the back of his mind Basnett stepped in and with an early break of 52 he eventually went onto win the frame 82-4 for a 4-3 scoreline.

A break of 31 by Basnett in frame eight gave him a useful lead but Milliard wasn’t finished and a 53 break later the Kendall player looked like taking the match to a decider. Facing a tricky brown to the middle Milliard forced the position on the blue only to see brown hit the jaw and leave Basnett a half chance of a clearance. Holding his nerve Basnett slotted in the brown, blue and pink to take the frame 72-58 to the delight of his travelling support for a satisfying county title victory.