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A good night’s milking

The Hustlers beat the cat to the Cream in a match in which our high-flying opposition never quite got to grips with the alley.

First leg was a man beater.  Clive, Pete and Andy S all bettered their opposite numbers to put the Slurs 9 pins in front.  This paved the way for further damage to be inflicted by AU, Rich and Lewis.  The leg started badly, with Barry hurriedly packing his bag for a return stay at whichever river bank Rich hides in during the week.  The ship was eventually steadied by AU, and the leg finished on the same score as the first, and a further 10 pins ahead.

Third leg looked shaky but steadied itself until a disastrous fourth hand in which Lofty managed to fell the middle three pins one at a time.  Stu, following, fared no better and we lost 9 pins on the hand.  However, Steve’s 9 spare helped the leg to recover and honours were eventually shared.  Anchor leg initially gave the many Hustlers supporters some scary moments but the asking rate eventually proved too much for the Cream and a fine 23 by JT, Gary and Neil on the fifth hand left them with too many to chase.

 

28/3/11 v Cream @ home

Clive 9 4 7 7 4 6 37

Pete

4 5 8 7 4 7 35

Andy S

6 4 8 5 6 8 37

1st leg total 109 v 100

AU

7 8 7 7 8 6 43

Rich

0 6 7 5 2 6

26

Lewis 5 8 5 7 9 6 40

2nd leg total 109 v 99

Steve

5 7 9 5 6 9s 41

Lofty

6
7 6 3
7 3 32
Stu 6 8 8 3 7 6 38

3rd leg total 111 v 111

JT

8 6 7 9 8 5 43

Gary

7 6 5 7 9 8 42
Neil 3 7 4 6 6 8 34

4th leg total 119 v 110

Grand total 448 v 420

WON by +28

Smiffing

Having finally gotten back to winning ways, Hustlers made the long trek out to Bishops Cleeve, looking to do the double over Smiths A.  Could we finally string a couple of wins together?

1st leg got off to a steady start, with a starring performance from Chairman Pete as his 9 spare helped him to our top score of the night, although it wasn’t quite enough to stop us falling behind.  2nd leg kept the game tight as they only dropped 3 pins in a leg where neither side could break the 100 mrk.  JimBob excelled himself to regain possession of Barry the Brasilian beaver after just a single match as he just managed to get our lowest score of the night.  And so we turned around trailing by just 8 pins – a gap hardly worth mentioning for the ‘Slurs.

3rd leg soon sorted that out as they racked up our 2nd highest leg score of the night & Smiths got by far the lowest.  And so we immediately found ourselves 10 pins in front thanks to a superb 18-pin lead and confidence really rising.  Anchor leg just had to cruise and the double was ours.  But somebody had forgotten to show the script to Smiths.  With Dobbin getting our 2nd lowest score (and leaving us without a single 40 average in the process) it all came down to Smiths’ last hand – get 14 and the game would be ours.  The 21 saw us lose by another close margin – it can’t be good for the nerves.

Our penultimate game ses us play our last home game of the season against old opponents, the Cream.  We will be looking to avaenge the earlier defeat at Cleeve British Legion against them.

21/3/11 v Smiths A @ RBL, Bishops Cleeve

AU 5 3 4 5 6 8 31

Pete

6 6 9s 7 3 7 38

TC

5 3 6 7 8 5 34

1st leg total 103 v 108

Lewis

5 9 6 6 7 2 35

JimBob

6 2 7 5 0 6

26

Clive 4 3 7 8 8 3 33

2nd leg total 94 v 97

Jim

8 4 1 5 6 6 30

Rich

6
7 5 7
5 7 37
Steve 7 5 9 2 6 6 35

3rd leg total 102 v 84

Mart

7 7 6 5 6 5 36

Gary

5 6 6 3 7 9 36
Rob 4 7 5 7 3 2 28

4thleg total 100 v 116

Grand total 399 v 405

WON by -6

An elite balls up?

On a seemingly endless run of defeats the Hustlers were at home once more.  Could they stop the rot against the Cannonballs Elite?

AU & Cap’n Clive looked to set the standard with 40s, with able support from Gary as they took an early 22 pin lead.  The smiles were beginning to return.  But then the script started to feel a little familiar.  Despite veteran Jim clocking up a 40, Salty (lowest score of the night) and Stavros couldn’t compete and we dropped 13 pins, but still hung onto the lead, so despair hadn’t quite set in.

We brought on the Walls to set the pace on 3rd leg.  His 40 gave us hope as the singing picked up, as we dropped a further 2 pins, but stayted clinging onto a fragile lead, leaving it up to the anchors to keep us ahead.  But the drama hadn’t started yet.  A first hand beaver from "Mr Sunshine" saw 1 of our lowest ever hands and we were behind for the first time in the game.  We soon had a second beaver, this time from Dobbin (has Barry ever changed hands so quickly within a leg??) and really started to get a feeling of deja vu.  But a further twist was to come as Dobbin got our only spare of the night in the very next hand to put us back in the game.  JT’s 9 in the next hand lead  a comeback as we clawed back to a 1 pin lead.  And it all came down to the Cannonballs anchor man – needing an 8 to win the game, he got a 6 to hand us a victory by the narrowest of margins! 

Has the hoodoo finally been broken?  We rest next week for the Gold Cup and resume our fight at the RBL in Cleeve on 21st.  Surely we can build on this.

7/3/11 v Cannonballs Elite @ Suffolk

AU 9 8 6 8 4 5 40

Gary

5 3 8 7 5 8 36

Clive

5 8 8 9 5 7 42

1st leg total 118 v 96

Mark

8 3 4 4 5 3 27

Jim

9 4 6 8 7 6

40

AS 2 8 7 7 7 3 34

2nd leg total 101 v 114

Steve

8 6 8 6 6 7 41

Rich

5
8 9 6
5 4 37
Stu 7 4 8 5 5 4 33

3rd leg total 111 v 113

Rob

5 8 0 11 6 7 37

JT

0 8 6 5 9 7 35
Neil 3 1 7 6 8 6 31

4th leg total 103 v 109

Grand total 433 v 432

WON by 1

To Ullen Back

This week, the Hustlers finally get an away game – at the Suffolk!  Fresh from a weekend break in Bournemouth, it was time to get back on track.

1st leg started well, but soon found themselves 13 poins down.  Despite our skip’s 40 (our first of the night), they failed to break the 100, getting our lowest leg score of the night.  2nd leg saw us improve a little as AS helped himself to our joint highest spare of the season on his way to another 40.  The rot was halted a little, losing just 7 pins, but still leaving a lot to be done.

3rd leg improved the score with a very consistent performance and became the first leg to win, leaving the anchors still facing a 20 pin deficit – not impossible, but challenging, given recent performances.  And a rejigged anchor leg started well, before becoming rather seesaw.  Rich got his 2nd 40 of the season as we became the Hustlers’ highest scoring leg of the night, but it wasn’t enough and we dropped a further 6 pins to suffer another loss.

We’re back at home next week, needing to lay the ghost of 2011 to rest.  Can we finally get a win to settle us back into happy times?

1/3/11 v Ullenwood CC @ Suffolk

Mart 6 4 3 4 7 3 27

Pete

7 5 1 6 7 4 30

Clive

8 9 2 6 7 8 40

1st leg total 97 v 117

Lewis

7 1 8 7 5 7 35

JimBob

6 9 5 1 6 6

33

AS 8 5 3 6 16 6 44

2nd leg total 112 v 119

Gary

6 7 8 7 5 5 38

Stu

6
7 7 5
4 9 38
Neil 6 6 8 4 5 8 37

3rd leg total 113 v 105

TC

5 7 5 4 7 8 36

Rich

7 4 8 6 9 7 41
Rob 8 8 4 5 6 7 38

4th leg total 115 v 118

Grand total 437 v 459

WON by -22