All Change in the League

The league table is so congested that the top six teams at the start of the week were all in different positions after completing the week’s games.
In the Monday game, C&G Show collected maximum points to initially jump from sixth to second when beating The Borough. C&G won the first three legs, gradually building their lead to eight pins at that stage, before extending their advantage to 19 pins after leg four. C&G’s last leg score left The Borough wanting 79 to win but they rarely looked likely to make it and finally also lost that leg. Most surprising was that The Borough found scoring so difficult, to drop 66 pins compared to their previous game when they amassed 347. Best bowlers for C&G were Rich Fisher with 35 and 34 each from Keith Edwards & Paul Hollis. Top scores for The Borough came from Steve Court with 35, and 33 each from Ian Foreman & Stephen Mears.

The first result on Tuesday, a win for Lodge Farmers over luckless Bernie’s Bolts, had the winners jump a place in the table. It also meant that only 7.5 points separated table toppers, Nomads, from The Borough in sixth place. In the game, Bernie’s Bolts had taken a four pin lead in leg one, but for Farmers to turn the game in their favour, by winning legs two and three, and lead by four pins themselves. And at the end of the fourth leg had a handy 11 pin lead. Bowling the last leg first, Bolts made the top leg score of the game but it only left Farmers wanting 56 to win. Farmers left it late though and it needed last bowler Glyn Morley to get them over the line. Morley finished with 33 pins as did Jamie McGill & Frank Morris but Alex Lightfoot topped scored with 34. For The Bolts, Dean Lowe & Lewis McSweeney scored 35 each and Paul Blayney 34.

The final result between the top two teams, saw them swop places in the table.  Engineers, lying second before the game, came out on top against leaders Nomads thanks to taking the first three legs and build a match winning lead of 25 pins. Nomads then recovered to win the last two legs but it was never enough to thwart Engineers who, left only 50 pins to win the game, made that target comfortably. For Engineers, Ian Greenway, incl a 12 pin stack, and Luke Saunders both made 38 with Graham Hingley close behind with 37. In reply, Wendy Coombes for Nomads finished with 40 (incl 12 pin stack), in form Mac Eaton 38, and Eddie Upright 36.

Lodge Farmers 307 (8pts) – Bernie’s Bolts 302 (3pts)

C&G Show 303 (10pts) – The Borough 281 (1pt)

Nomads 313 (3pts) – Engineers 330 (8pts)

                        P          W         L          Pts

Engineers          7          5          2          48.5

Nomads            7          4          3          45

C&G Show        7          3          4          40.5

Lodge Farmers  7          4          3          39.5

Jumbo Jet Set   6          4          2          36

The Borough     7          3          4          34.5

Bernie’s Bolts    7          1          6          20