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Overshadowed

It was back to the Suffolk this week as the Hustlers took on the Shadows to finish off the first half of the season.  Could we string it all together to get back to winning ways or would the Shadows hit the high notes?

 

Our last game of 2010 saw us get off to Apache start.  With JT hitting another spare to scrape a 40, and good support from Pete & Gary, we could only manage to finish the 1st leg leading by a single pin.  2nd leg soon got into their rhythm and, despite a stumbling Salty, a resurgent Jim clinched his 1st 40 of the season, ably backed up by another Lewis 40, to stretch the halftime lead to 11 pins.

Third leg looked like they might be struggling when Rich started with a beaver.  But Wallsy (with our 2nd spare of the night) found the best rhythm of the match as his Foottapper performance rocked in with a 49 to stretch the lead by another 11 pins.  Surely a sign that the festive season was going to be a joyful one?   But the Shadows weren’t done yet and, steadily pulling pins back, were determined to make a Cliff hanger of it.  With 40s from Dobbin & Olive, the anchors just held on to see us home by 8 pins.

And so we go into Christmas riding high in the League.  We’re hoping Santa will bring us some magic to keep the streak going.  We reconvene on 11 January to face the Pittville Outcasts at the Fox & Hounds (NOT the Gas Club!).  Have a Great Christmas.

15/12/10 v Shadows @ Suffolk

JT 6 6 12 4 6 6 40

Pete

7 6 5 6 7 7 38

Gary

7 5 6 6 7 6 37

1st leg total 115 v 114

Mark

2 8 4 7 6 6 33
Jim 8 7 7 6 8 7 43
Lewis 8 8 6 7 6 6 41

2nd leg total 117 v 107

Steve

8 8 6 8 9 10 49

Rich

0 7 5 9 6 5 32
Stu 5 4 7 6 6 6 34

3rd leg total 115v 104

Rob

4 8 6 8 6 8 40

AS

7 5 4 6 5 8 35
Clive 8 8 8 8 4 6 42

4th leg total 117 v 131

Grand total 464 v 456

WIN by 8

Creamed

With the hoar frost gone, the Hustlers ventured out to Bishops Cleeve to face old rivals the Cream.  Would we get frozen out or could we lick the cream?

Our penultimate game of 2010 saw us fumbling with freezing balls as we looked to win this top of the table battle.  1st leg got off to a very uncertain start, as Neil racked up another 40, but barely making up for JimBob & Lofty’s season low scores.  Lofty succeeded in snatching back possession of Barry the Brasilian beaver in the process – indeed, he almost got a second beaver to boot.  Both sides failed to break the ton, but we still managed to drop 9 pins.  Uncharacteristically, AS failed to produce a single swandive, while Jim pulled out his best score of the season as 2nd leg put in a more consistent performance, yet still managing to drop a further 13 pins.

And so we began the 2nd half trailing by 22 pins, but still with a good hope of pegging them back.  Steve (with our 2nd 40) & Gary’s consistency made up somewhat for TC’s misfiring and we finally won a leg to pull back 5 pins and leave the anchors a good chance of pulling the game back.  Despite a couple of hiccups, Rob led the way with another 40, with Clive & JT trailing behind, but keeping the pressure on as they slowly pegged back pins.  A brave effort narrowed the gap by 12 pins to see the Cream narrowly scrape the win by a mere 5 pins.

We’re back at home next week for our last game before the Christmas break.  We will be trying to spoil the Shadows’ festive season and bring back the winning ways.

8/12/10 v Cream @ RBL BC

Neil 8 8 7 5 7 6 41

JimBob

5 3 4 6 4 4 26

Mart

7 5 5 0 3 1 21

1st leg total 88 v 97

AS 6 4 8 4 7 3 32
Jim 8 4 7 5 6 8 38
Stu 5 6 6 7 8 4 36

2nd leg total 106 v 119

Steve

6 6 9 7 8 9 45

TC

6 6 5 3 6 5 31
Gary 6 6 5 7 7 5 36

3rd leg total 112 v 107

Rob

8 8 8 6 4 9 43

Clive

6 5 4 7 8 6 36
JT 5 6 7 5 5 5 33

4th leg total 112 v 100

Grand total 418 v 423

WIN by -5