World number 44 Stuart Bingham warmed up for the coming season with a visit to the Stanford-le-Hope Constitutional Club.

The evening was organised by club member and Essex League secretary Simon Eves and saw Basildon's Bingham play 12 frames against club members, giving his opponents a 70 start.

Bingham, who starts qualifiers early next month, knocked in breaks of 30, 46, 55, 52 70 and a highest of the evening 89 in winning four of the first five frames -- club member Mark Brady was the only player to win against the professional before the break.

Then Nicky Brown and Stuart Monksfield took advantage of the 70 start to beat Bingham despite breaks of 41 and 38 after the interval.

But Bigham, who plays out of Leigh's Executive club, came back strongly and an excellent run of 69, 82, 62, 71 and 83 saw the members well entertained for the remainder of the evening.

Published Thursday, August 7, 2003

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