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