Hustlers, with a team of no reserves and a meerkat that has gone AWOL, dropped back to halfway in the table with this not so narrow defeat against Allsports.
Amid rumblings that Allsports had put two last leg players on early, our first leg was always going to be up against it. Allsports’ highest leg of the evening, which included a 48, supported this rumour but our highlight was an excellent 40 from JimBob, one of only four players who beat his opponent this evening, which kept the deficit down to 15.
Second leg came up against an even bigger gradient to climb. Pete now has a house guest in Barry the Beaver but all three struggled to keep up and the outcome was a further 21 pin deficit.
With a lead of 36, Allsports were flying high but Hustlers’ third leg came back with excellent performances by all three players. Both Steve and Anthony broke 40 and Dave only narrowly missed out. Anthony’s score could have been higher if he had scored with his 9 spare on the last hand and he misses out on a visit from the meerkat who appears to have vanished.
Third leg’s efforts alas only produced a gain of 5 pins and closing the remaining 31 pin gap was always going to be a tall order for last leg. Neil’s 42 and Gary’s 39 both matched their opponents’ scores so it was for anchorman Clive, with 41, to reduce the deficit by 10 pins and make our defeat a little more respectable.
| Place | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Total | V man! |
| 1 | Andy | 3 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 32 | -16 |
| 2 | Jim-Bob | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 40 | 6 |
| 3 | Malcolm | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 34 | -5 |
| Leg | 16 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 14 | 106 | -15 | |
| 4 | Pete | 5 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 31 | -9 |
| 5 | Lloyd | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 37 | -2 |
| 6 | Chatz | 1 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 28 | -10 |
| Leg | 13 | 21 | 16 | 15 | 13 | 18 | 96 | -21 | |
| 7 | Steve | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 40 | 1 |
| 8 | Anthony | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 43 | 4 |
| 9 | Dave | 8 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 39 | 0 |
| Leg | 22 | 17 | 19 | 15 | 23 | 26 | 122 | 5 | |
| 10 | Neil | 8 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 42 | 0 |
| 11 | Gary | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 39 | 0 |
| 12 | Clive | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 41 | 10 |
| Leg | 21 | 22 | 18 | 22 | 22 | 17 | 122 | 10 |
Lost by 21!