Match Report
Friday 5th March 2010
The wonders of skittles never cease to amaze me! After last week’s match I was convinced that we would fall into second spot in the table. This was not the case, I am very happy to say, after looking at the main CSL website yesterday to see how the other teams in the division had done. Ok, we are currently only five points clear of the second place, so it is still not a foregone conclusion that we will end this season victorious.
This week we were playing back on our own alley against The Fortyniners who were currently residing mid-way in the table and seemed to be on a slight winning streak. We have beaten them in the past so desperately wanted to do so again. Playing first for us was Biker, Clive and Kev. Clive had a bit of a tough time for the majority of the set and as a result seemed not to be having a good game. All this changed on his final hand when he hit a good 13 spare, so well done to him but this was not sufficient to give him our teams’ highest score of the match. These were to come later and yes I did mean to say ‘these’ because we ended up with four players hitting the same score! There will be more on this when we get to them. The range of scores we hit were two 3’s, two 4’s, four 5’s, two 6’s, four 7’s, an 8, a 9, an 11 spare (by Kev on his third hand) and the 13 spare. The individual set totals for this set were 40, 34 and 41. Kev’s 41 as it happened was one of our four highest scores in the match so well done to him. These gave us a set total of 115. The Fortyniners tried to hold us at bay, but just could not seem to gain the edge. They did, however, hit three 9’s between them which is usually good. Their range of scores was a 4, six 5’s, four 6’s, two 7’s, an 8 and the three 9’s. These gave them player totals of 41, 34 and 37 and gave them a set total of 112. We had won the first set by a mere 3 pins, but at least we had the first points on the board.
The second set consisted of Kojak, Doug and Cockney Al. This was a fairly evenly paced set. There were not enough high scores hit on it to warrant an individual mention because they were all hit like for like scores. The breakdown was two 4’s, three 5’s, four 6’s, two 7’s and five 8’s. These gave us player totals of 36, 40 and 41 which gave us a set total of 117. As you can see Al was the second highest score of the match so well done to him. The Fortyniners tried hard to keep up the pressure but alas this was all too much for one of their players because on his third hand he suffered a v/c. One of their players J. Main tried to keep the set together when he hit a good 11 spare on his final hand to give him a final score of 44 so well done to him, but this was not their highest score. This was to come in the next set. The other player totals for this set were 41 and 28 which added to the 44 gave them a set total of 113. We had won the second set as well, but only by 4 pins which meant that we were now just 7 pins ahead and now had four points on the board. Things were now looking good for us.
The third set consisted of Neil, John C. and Dixie. This seemed to be a fairly lively set as far as the scores were concerned because John managed to hit a good 12 spare on his fourth hand which gave him a set total of 40 this meant that he was just a single pin away from sharing the high scores. The breakdown of the scores on this set was two 4’s, three 5’s, three 6’s, three 7’s, three 8’s, two 9’s and the 12 spare. Both of our other players, in this set, shared the high score of 41, so very well done to them. The set total for us was a good 122. The Fortyniners seemed to come alive on this set. J. Gebler hit a 17 spare on his third hand, this contributed to him getting their teams highest score of the night of a 49, rather apt considering their team name. The breakdown of the scores was a 4, two 5’s, three 6’s, five 7’s, five 8’s and the 17 spare. The other players scores for this set were 42 and 41 which, added to the 49, gave them a set total of a huge 132. They had stolen the set from under our noses by 10 pins which meant that we were now losing the match by 3 pins. This seemed to be a complete reversal of how the match began. Could we recover? Or was it going to end in disaster?
The final set consisted of Andy G., Dave and Captain Woody. The scores were fairly evenly matched across the board with a plenitude of 6’s in the mix. The total range of scores was two 5’s, nine 6’s, four 7’s and three 8’s. These gave us player totals of 39, 40 and 37 and a set total of 116. The Fortyniners played a fairly calm set, again many of their scores were evenly matched. They hit a three, two 5’s, four 6’s, seven 7’s, three 8’s and a 9. These gave them player totals of 40, 41 and 38 and a set total of 119. They had taken the final set from us by 3 pins and the final points on the match too. The overall totals for the teams were 470 to us and 476 to them. They had won the match by just 6 pins.
So there you have it, we ended up with just 4 points on the board. Will this be sufficient to enable us to stay at the top? Or are we destined to drop to either 2nd or 3rd place? Alas I won’t know this until at least Friday 12th March when the main CSL website is updated with the rest of the teams’ efforts this week.
Next week we have a vacant night due to the Real Walnuts folding so early in the season. So the next report on these pages will not appear until the following week. Just how will you cope without being able to read the thrills and spills of our endeavours during this remarkable season?
Till then...