Lodge Farmers & The Borough in Close Encounter

After winning the first two legs to open up a comfortable 15 pin lead, Lodge Farmers might have been confident that they were on their way to another big points return. Opponents The Borough, though, had other ideas. They scored 73 in leg three with captain, Sarah Edwards making a stack of 16 pins – the only double figure score this week. Farmers’ response to that was good but their lead was now cut to eight pins. And in leg four when Farmers returned a low score, The Borough capitalised with a 64 pin total to take a narrow two pin lead of their own into the final legs. The Borough’s last leg total finally left Farmers needing 69 for an 8 – 3 points win. They went close in scoring 68 to tie the game on pins but with a reduced points win of 6 – 5.

For The Borough, Sarah Edwards finished with 38 pins, and Charlie Few and Ian Foreman 34 each, while Glyn Morley 38 pins, Frank Morris 36 and Sue Morris 35 replied best for Lodge Farmers.

By contrast the other two games saw big wins and maximum points returns for Nomads and Engineers.

Nomads’ winning pin score could have been even bigger if Geoff Loat (twice) and Alan Cummings (once), having cleared all nine pins with the first two balls, then missed the reset pins with their third ball. But it was no let off for opponents Jumbo Jets who rarely looked like winning any of the five legs.

For Nomads, Loat ended with 41 pins, Eddie Upright 39 and Mac Eaton 38. Best for sorry Jets were Len Quartly 35, and Rob Quartly & Rich Johnston 32 each.

Engineers were equally dominant against a Bernie’s Bolts team who only briefly thought they might have edged leg two. As it was, Engineers nicked it by a single pin and that was the end of Bolts’ resistance. Engineers finally left Bolts wanting a mammoth 96 pins to win which was well beyond them.

Engineers’ Mark Ganderton with 38, and Craig Sears & Andy Clewlow with 37 each spearheaded their team’s win while Andy Gill-Smith for Bolts made 35, and Mark West & Paul Blayney 33 apiece.

Results
Lodge Farmers 321 pins (6pts) – The Borough 321 pins (5pts)
Engineers 337 (10pts) – Bernie’s Bolts 306 (1pt)
Nomads 327 (10pts) – Jumbo Jet Set 297 (1pt)