Hustlers made heavy weather against Fir Trees in a surprisingly low-scoring match for both teams at the Adam & Eve.
Rob, on early so that he could escape before the carnage began, scored a faultless 45 but the other two bowlers proved expensive against an opposition leg in which every player scored over 40, and Hustlers finished the leg 13 pins down.
On the second leg a 41 from Andy – unusually managing to beat his opponent – helped to keep the deficit down to just 8 pins, but that still left third leg with 21 pins to make up.
Third leg looked promising on paper but they did not read Neil’s instructions properly and continued to ship pins with only a misfiring Anthony gaining on his opponent. The result was a further 9 pins in the deficit tray.
So last leg had 30 pins to make up and they gave Fir Trees an almighty scare with two spares in a hand of 36 which halved the deficit in one go. Unfortunately this could not be sustained to the end and although Gary (finishing with 45) and Neil (49) managed to reduce this by a third between them, Hustlers lost the game by 22 pins.
| Away vs Fir Trees 7 December 16 – Lost by 22 | |||||||||
| Place | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Total | V man! |
| 1 | Rob | 6 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 45 | 4 |
| 2 | Chatz | 5 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 35 | -9 |
| 3 | John | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 32 | -8 |
| Leg | 18 | 19 | 15 | 20 | 22 | 18 | 112 | -13 | |
| 4 | Andy | 6 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 41 | 2 |
| 5 | Pete | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 33 | -4 |
| 6 | Dave | 5 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 36 | -6 |
| Leg | 17 | 18 | 22 | 20 | 13 | 20 | 110 | -8 | |
| 7 | Anthony | 5 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 35 | 2 |
| 8 | Rich | 7 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 38 | -8 |
| 9 | Lloyd | 6 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 32 | -3 |
| Leg | 18 | 13 | 15 | 25 | 18 | 16 | 105 | -9 | |
| 10 | Swayner | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 36 | -2 |
| 11 | Gary | 7 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 45 | 4 |
| 12 | Neil | 6 | 8 | 8 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 49 | 6 |
| Leg | 18 | 20 | 21 | 36 | 18 | 17 | 130 | 8 | |