Engineers Take League Title

Needing to collect five points to be declared league champions, Engineers, playing their last game of the season, were undaunted by Bernie’s Bolts good first leg score of 71 to top it by four pins before increasing that advantage to seven pins after completion of leg two. Leg three then proved decisive as Engineers racked up an impressive 88 pin winning leg to open up a 32 pin lead. Having won three legs for three points, and with that massive pin lead, Engineers then went off the boil. They promptly lost leg four, but only by a single pin but still held a near unassailable 31 pin lead.

And when Bernie’s Bolts made a 71 pin last leg score, that left Engineers wanting only 41 pins for victory. Cock-a-hoop, Engineers were now totally relaxed and enjoyed their last leg, and despite only scoring 55, comfortably reached their 41 pin target to take the title by collecting a further five points for winning the game.

Top scoring for Engineers was Andy Clewlow with 40, including an 18 pin stack in leg three, made more notable by his third ball taking all nine pins (known as a ‘flopper’). Mark Ganderton made 39 and Graham Hingley & Jo Kelso 36 each. For The Bolts, Mark Andrews made 46 (incl 15 stack); John McSweeney 36; and Dan Goodman 33.

Engineers Mark Ganderton finished the season top of the aggregate scoring list with 636 pins and also top of the ‘Best 12’ scores with an average of 38.33.

Bernie’s Bolts also featured in the remaining game of the season against C&G Show. After leg two, each team had won a leg with The Bolts holding a slender one pin lead which they stretched to seven after winning leg three. C&G Show’s low fourth leg score then allowed The Bolts to extend their lead to 25 pins to effectively win the game at that stage. C&G Show did at least take leg five but only by a single pin as they slumped to another loss.

In this last game, Dan Goodman made 38 (incl 13 stack); Mark Andrews also 38; and Mark West 36 for The Bolts, while best for C&G Show were Angela Guest 38 (incl 15 stack); Aaron Evans 35; and Andy Maine 34.

Consolation for C&G Show, who will hoping for better results next season, is that Angela Guest topped the ladies aggregate scoring list with 609 pins and topped the ladies ‘Best 12’ averages (35.75).

Engineers 346 (8pts) v Bernie’s Bolts 331 (3pts)

Bernie’s Bolts 327 (8pts) v C&G Show 303 (3pts)