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Love (it:) Labour’s Lost

The most contrived title in the history of the Hustlers’ website is an unworthy reference to the Hustlers’ first win of the season, the victims being Temperance 12 at the Labour Club.

Both teams struggled on a wooden alley with uneven pitch but the first leg stayed fairly even until the Hustler’s meagre last hand of 10 gave the opposition a lead of 9 pins.

It was the next three up who effectively won the match, with Andy (43) and Clive (42) instrumental in converting a first leg deficit to a second leg lead of 15 pins, although Temperance 12 did oblige with their lowest leg.

Third leg started badly but steadied after a 9 spare by Gary.  However the meerkat is becoming as rare at Hustlers as AU on a Tuesday night so Gary went home empty handed.  Led by a fine 41 by Rich, who continues to pulverise his opposite number, the leg finished with honours shared.

And so to a very wobbly last leg which was filled with players who should know better behaving badly.  Only the rock steady JT finished with any credit, with the Hustlers winning the leg by 3 and the game by 18.

 

27/9/11 v Temperance 12 @ Labour Club

Lofty 6 6 8 6 6 3 35 -4

Jim

5 6 5 8 3 3 30 -7

Pete

4 9 7 4 9 2 35 2

1st leg total 100 v 109

Andy

6 7 8 4 9 9 43 12

JimBob

5 5 9 7 5 4 35 7
Clive 6 6 6 7 8 9 42 5

2nd leg total 120 v 96

Gary

6 7 7 9s 6 3 38 -2

Rich

6
7 8 6
8 6 41 6
Lewis 8 3 6 7 4 8 36 -4

3rd leg total 115 v 115

Neil

4 5 8 4 7 7 35 -1

Rob

3 5 7 8 8 5 36 0
JT 9 7 4 8 7 6 41 4

4th leg total 112 v 109

Grand total 447 v 429

WON by 18

Bowled Over

Looking to get a win in the bag, Hustlers faced Cheltenham CC in the first home match of the new season.

1st leg had the privilege of being the first to use Lofty’s shiny new balls. Cap’n Clive just missed out on a 40 as we got off to a slow, but steady start, finishing 11 pins down as their middle man hit a spare & a 9 spare.  2nd leg couldn’t match the score, but scrabbled pins back as none of the 3 lost to their man,and Steve collecting our only spare of the night. leaving us only 5 down at the halfway point.

3rd leg brought us our top score & total, thanks to Rich’s 43, but conceded another 2 pins along the way, leaving the anchors with only 7 pins to claw back.  Despite JT’s 42 (with a 9 spare making him the inaugural holder of our meerkat – Pete is still to name him), we fell yet further behind as both Neil & Rob beat JimBob to next week’s bench

Its the Temperance 12 at the Labour club next week – maybe they can be our first victims.

19/9/11 v Cheltenham Cricket Club @ Suffolk

Clive 4 7 9 6 5 8 39 -3

TC

6 6 7 7 6 4 36 -7

Stu

6 6 6 7 3 6 34 -1

1st leg total 109 v 120

AS

4 4 6 6 6 9 35 3

JimBob

4 7 7 4 5 5 32 0
Steve 5 12 6 6 5 4 38 3

2nd leg total 105 v 99

Mart

4 7 5 7 9 5 37 -5

Rich

9
8 7 6
6 7 43 17
Lewis 2 6 5 6 6 9 34 -14

3rd leg total 114 v 116

Neil

5 4 7 7 4 4 31 -7

JT

7 9 9s 5 7 5 42 6
Rob 4 3 5 9 5 5 31 -11

4th leg total 104 v 116

Grand total 432 v 451

WON by -19

Balls up: Hustlers down

Cannonballs away from home was the wrong match to begin the season, with the Hustlers not realising the game had started until the last leg.

The first three legs went the same way, with Hustlers gradually shipping pins until we were 33 down at the end of the third.  Only Olive and his rug-rat managed to beat their men, during which time our Captain put our new meerkat (what’s his name?) on standby until his third ball ended on target. 

On the last leg the Hustlers pulled back 6 pins, partly because they all broke 40 and partly because Cannonballs had stopped playing by then.  But the Balls had a scare on the fourth hand when Hustlers pulled back 9 pins and for the next five minutes it could have been game on.  At least Neil and JT beat their men; Pete meanwhile, who finished with 40, had to bowl off with Gary for the bench with the result that Pete wears the Warsaw trousers next week.

If this sounds like doom and gloom the positives were that the Hustlers broke 500 and only two of the team failed to make 40.  The negative is that Olive is top of the averages, a point he was not slow to recall (several times) on the long walk home.

14/9/11 v Cannonballs Elite @ Saracens Club

Gary 6 8 8 9 7 2 40  -6

Lofty

6 8 8 7 8 4 41  -5

Clive

4 8 8 8 8 12 48  4

1st leg total 129 v 136

Lewis

6 9 9 9 7 5 45  5

Jim

8 3 7 8 4 6 36  -11
Andy S 8 6 7 8 7 6 42  -5

2nd leg total 123 v 134

Steve

8 7 9 8 3 8 43 -5

Mark

6
4 5 5
7 6 33  -8
Rob 9 7 6 8 5 7 42  -2

3rd leg total 118 v 133

Neil

7 8 8 8 8 7 46 5

Pete

5 4 9 7 7 8 40  -2
JT 8 8 7 8 5 8 44  3

4th leg total 130 v 124

Grand total 500 v 527

WON by -27