Doubles K/O Competition Takes Centre Stage
League fixtures took a rest as the first round of the Doubles Cup Competition got underway. Twenty four teams entered, with the top scoring four teams in each of the three groups qualifying for the final. Surprisingly Nomads will not be represented in the finals..
In group one, after leg two, the Bernie’s Bolts pairing of Jim Williamson & Craig McSweeney narrowly topped the group thanks to McSweeney’s stack of 10 pins. But were ultimately satisfied to qualify in third place with 74 pins after leg five. Finally topping the group were an Engineers’ duo of Luke Saunders (13 stack) & Mark Ganderton who totalled 81 pins with the second spot going to Jumbo Jets’ Dennis Compton (15 stack) & Mick Stanton making 75. The last qualifying place went to Jamie McGill & Tim Jones from Lodge Farmers who bowled steadily throughout to record a 64 pin total.
The second group saw the only sudden death play off in round one to decide who would qualify in fourth place. The two pairings involved were Paul Hollis & Paul O’Neil (C&G Show) and Lynne Pemberton & Paul Cotton (Lodge Farmers) finishing equal with 62 pins.The first play off found the two pairs still locked together before the Pemberton/Cotton combination edged the second play off by a single pin to take the last final spot. Elsewhere in this group, Engineers’ Andy Clewlow & Craig Sears needed a last leg stack of 13 from Clewlow to ensure they would end with 72 pins to win the group ahead of the only all ladies team of Lily Orton & Angela Guest (C&G Show) making 66 pins. The third placed team, and also qualifying with 64 pins were Pete Clewlow & Ian Greenway (Engineers).
The four pairs to qualify from group three were in the top four places after leg two and retained their placings through the remaining three legs. Keith & Craig Ellis (Engineers) eventually topped the standings with 73 pins, closely followed by Paul Blayney & Dan Goodman (Bernie’s Bolts) scoring 71. Next best qualify scores of 66 came from Keith Edwards & Graham Swadden (C&G Show) and Julian Workman & Scott Few (The Borough). But that 66 total was in doubt to the very end when the Lodge Farmers’ pair of Frank & Sue Morris, needing to score 17 pins in their last leg to force a three team play off for the last final place, missed out by just a single pin to finish with a 65 pin total.
