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Hustlers Smash Christmas Records

A deluge greeted the Hustlers as they journeyed to the Saracens Club for the third time this season, to end the first half of the season against old friends Cannonballs Elite, hoping to bring some Christmas cheer to the team.

A sparkling start saw Clive get our first 40 of the night, JT our first 9 and Stavros our first spare, as they raced into an early 5-pin lead.  Mike’s spare and Chris’s 9 helped them form a 40 sandwich (with TC providing the filling of our highest bottom score of the season) that proved to be 13 pins short of the Elite, to leave us 8 pins behind at the midpoint.

Third leg put in their best performance of the season (despite Lofty’s missed spare making him the new owner of Mo the Meerkat), with all making 40s, including another spare from Stu and more 9s from Lofty and Mike.  A classy 20-pin gain turned the game once more towards the ‘slurs as we climbed to an 11-pin lead, with just the anchors to come.  Again the leg score improved as Rob and Neil (with his 9 helping him to the top of the averages once more) flanked Steve’s 50 (our third of the season), featuring a season’s highest spare, as they narrowly edged the leg to take us to a rare 500 total and an important win.

We reconvene in World Cup year, as we face the Baro Boys at the Albion Club.  Will Santa bring us a change in fortune and see Hustlers increase their win ratio?  Will bottom of the averages TC beat Neil and Rob to 1000 pins, or will Hell freeze over first?

Have yourselves a Merry Little Christmas and let’s hope 2014 is a Prosperous New Year for Hustlers.

18/12/13 v Cannonballs Elite @ Saracens

Clive

7 8 7 6 7 6 41 -2

JT

7 5 8 9 4 6 39 5
AS 6 5 6 4 6 12 39

2

1st leg total 119 v 114

Mike

7 7 5 13 7 2 41 -7

TC

8 6 7 6 6 5 38 -9
Chris 5 7 5 7 9 8 41 3

2nd leg total 120 v 133

Mart

8 6 9s 8 4 9 44 6

Pete

6 8 8 9 8 7 46 6
Stu 14 5 6 5 6 5 41 8

3rd leg total 131 v 111

Rob

6 8 7 8 7 5 41 -4

Steve

16 5 8 8 8 7 52 7
Neil 4 7 8 8 9 7 43

2

4th leg total 136 v 131

Grand total 506 v 489

WON by 17

Hustlers Go Mad

Our last home game of the year saw Hustlers take on the Madhatters, eager to get back on the winning track.

1st leg got off to a good start, despite the ‘Hatters’ opener getting a big 17 spare settubg up his 50 (a most rare event at the Suffolk).  Lofty made smaends for his 1 with our first 9 of the night, closely followed by Stavros, on his way to our first 40, where he was soon joined by Cap’n Clive.  And, unexpectedly, we found ourselves just 3 pins down.  Hope was showing its light.  Despite another 9 from Mike, 2n leg failed to make the 100 mark, so we went into the second half trailing by 15 pins, still with a glimmer of hope. 

3rd leg scored a little higher, but the ‘Hatters’ spare proved a telling blow, as it gave them a further 12-pin lead and saw hope of a victory start to flicker away.  And so the anchors faced a familiar arduous task to turn the game around.  A valiant chase ensued, with Neilson setting the pace with a joyous spare to tke him to top score once more.  And they could rightly claim the honour of our top leg of the night.  But, once more, it proved to be not quite right,  and we ultimately trailed in by an impressive 29 pins.

We end the year next week with a trip to Saracens, as we take on Cannonballs Elite to start the 2nd half of the season.

9/12/13 v Madhatters @  Suffolk

Mart

5 8 1 9 7 8 37 -15

AS

6 6 7 9 4 8 40 8
Clive 8 6 6 8 6 6 40

4

1st leg total 118 v 120

Mike

5 5 4 5 9 5 31 -7

TC

6 5 6 4 6 4 32
Chris 6 6 5 8 4 6 35 -5

$2nd leg total 98 v 110

Pete

5 6 4 5 5 5 30 -7

JT

5 6 7 4 7 8 37 2
Stu 4 7 6 7 7 7 38 -7

3rd leg total 105 v 117

Rob

7 3 8 7 6 5 36 -2

Steve

4 8 7 7 6 8 40 -4
Neil 6 15 7 7 7 3 44

4

4th leg total 120 v 123

Grand total 441 v 470

WON by -29

“Brown Jug” myth finally put to rest

 rare outing to the ‘Slurs’ spiritual home, set them against the Flyers and offered a chance for the legendary Stu performance to appear.

A steady start from 1st leg as Mike slaughtered his man & Clive narrowly missed a 40.  Trailing by 4, JT set about reversing that as he opened with a high spare.  With a 9 from Stavros helping him to beat his man,m the rest of the leg was somewhat mixed as they dropped a further 4 pins.  Still, a manageable gap at the halfway mark and Stu still to come, so nothing to worry about.

Playing without gloves on his feet this week, Chris caused a stir with an opening 1, while Stu’s opening 3 got the ‘Slurs worried.  A low-key performance saw them mark our lowest 3rd leg score so far this season, as we dropped 29 pins, to leave the anchors chasing a significant total.  but they were up for it and, after a shaky start, .  9s from top scorer Rob and Gary helped claw some pins back.  Despite claiming op leg score, the task proved too much and they could only win by a single pin, as we suffered another loss.

Our last home game of the year next week as we take on Madhatters.

4/12/13 v Brown Jug Flyers @ Brown Jug

Mike

4 5 7 5 7 8 36 12

TC

5 6 7 5 6 7 36 -7
Clive 8 5 4 8 8 6 39

-9

1st leg total 111 v 115

AS

5 8 3 9 4 8 37 5

JT

15 6 5 8 3 4 41 -2
Steve 6 7 6 2 5 7 33 -7

2nd leg total 111 v 115

 

Chris

1 6 4 6 6 7 30 -14

Pete

8 4 5 7 6 6 36 -2
Stu 3 6 5 5 5 2 26 -13

3rd leg total 92 v 121

Rob

6 9 6 8 8 6 43 5

Gary

5 4 9 7 8 5 38 -2
Neil 2 7 7 7 8 6 37

-2

4th leg total 118 v 117

Grand total 432 v 468

WON by -36