Lodge Farmers take Triples Crown

The final of the Triples Competition saw Lodge Farmers A team fight back against Jumbo Jet Set A to lift the Chris Charlesworth Cup.

The evening had started with two quarter final groups from which only the top two teams in each group would qualify for the knockout semi finals.

In the group of five teams, Lodge Farmers A (Jamie McGill, Tim Jones & Glyn Morley) and The Borough A (Andy Taylor, Scott Few & Charlie Few) quickly opened up a gap and at the completion of leg three were very comfortably placed. Their leg four scores then seemed to cement their qualification only for Jumbo Jet Set A (Rob Quartly, Rich Johnston & Mick Stanton) to go second with a bumper leg score of 30 of which Rob Quartly made a 16 stack incl a first ball nine. In the final leg Lodge Farmers A again scored well to top the group but The Borough A stumbled leaving Jumbo Jets A wanting only 15 to claim a semi final place which they did with ease. Top scorers with 38 were Rob Quartly and Tim Jones (incl 10 stack), Andy Taylor 35 (in 11 stack).  And from the other two teams not qualifying, Wendy Coombs of Nomads B made 33 and Len Quartly 30 for Jumbo Jets B.

The other quarter final group was always very close, exciting and tense with the four teams taking it in turns to top the group. But after the fifth leg only two pins separated the four teams but Lodge Farmers B (Frank, Sue & Rachel Morris) qualified with 99 pins leaving Engineers B (Craig Sears, Rob Baker & Graham Hingley) and Engineers A (Luke Saunders, Ian Greenway & Maurice Guns) tied second with 98 pins to set up a sudden death play off. Sears then made seven to which Saunders replied with a qualifying 13 stack for his team. Top scorers were Craig Sears with 38, Frank Morris 37, Luke Saunders 36 while Alan Cummings & Mac Eaton, both Nomads A, scored 35 each in a team total of 97 pins.

In the first semi-final, Jumbo Jets A lead throughout against Lodge Farmers B who left their opponents wanting only 15 to progress to the final which was managed with ease. For Jumbo Jets A, Rob Quartly made 39, Rich Johnston 38 (incl 11 stack) & Mick Stanton 33 while Lodge Farmers B,  Sue Morris scored 35 (incl 14 stack), and Rachel & Frank Morris 34 each.

The other semi was also straightforward – until the last leg. Engineers B (Luke Saunders, Ian Greenway & Maurice Wroe) were always ahead over the first four legs. And when scoring 19 in their last leg they looked favourites to win when leaving opponents, Lodge Farmers A, a tricky 23 pins to reach the final. Their trio of Jamie McGill, Tim Jones & Glyn Morley though scored 24 to progress. Luke Saunders, Ian Greenway & Maurice Wroe scored 35, 34 & 30 respectively and Tim Jones, Glyn Morley & Jamie McGill 38, 36 and 27 respectively.

In the final, Jumbo Jets A were well in control after the first two legs, but their poor third leg score allowed Lodge Farmers A to level matters after completion of the leg. Jumbo Jets A then scored well in leg four in posting 23 pins only for Jamie McGill to make a 12 stack out of a team total of 28 in leg four and build a five pin advantage for Lodge Farmers A. And they needed that advantage when they could make just 17 pins in their last leg. It meant Jumbo Jets A wanted an exacting 23 pins to win, and it proved out of reach as they finished with just 19 of them. Individual scores were Jamie McGill 36, Tim Jones 34 & Glyn Morley 32 for the trophy winners and Rich Johnston 36 and Rob Quartly & Mick Stanton 30 apiece for the runners up.