Skittle Talk by KINGPIN – 8th December 2017
There was a close result when two of the teams holding up the top division of the Weyline Taxis sponsored Weymouth & Portland Skittle League met and another of the top tier matches saw a fantastic turnaround in the last hand.
Starting at Wyke Social Club where the club team went into the game just one point ahead of the visitors, and bottom of the table team, 69ers. The club team started the game with a hand of 53 but 69ers replied with a hand of 57 which included a 13-pin stickup from Mike Clark. The second hand saw a reversal when the home team totalled 59 with the visitors reaching just 52. Into the third hand and Social managed 55 but 69ers had an excellent team hand of 71 finished with a 15-pin square from Neil Gillespie to give the visitors a 13 pin lead. After the fourth hand the match was level when the home team hit 62 but 69ers reply was a weak 49. Start again! Social’s fifth hand totalled 51 with 69ers replying with 55 to give them a lead of four pins. Although they lost one pin after the sixth hand they held on to win the match by three pins and now move up the table and leave the Social team at the bottom.
At Weymouth WM Club it was a fight at the other end of the table when the second placed team WWMC Do-nuts hosted the match against the leaders Mo Army. The home team started with a steady team effort of 59 and although the visitors saw a stickup in their reply, with the third ball bolted, they totalled 52 when the middle order didn’t perform. However, they did pull back three pins after the second end but after four hands they were nine pins behind when Andy Crawford took an 11 pin square for Do-nuts in their total of 64 with the Army replying with a good team effort of 59. The visitors took another three pins back on the fifth hand and when they took the sixth hand by eight pins Mo Army went into the last hand leading by two pins. In Do-nuts last hand they meant business and put in a magnificent hand of 84 which included squares from Richie Paull (15), Crawford (14), Howie Parker (12) and Steve Luke (11). The Army were totally overwhelmed by that hand and finished the match with a poor hand of 46. Do-nuts went from two down to win the game by a massive 36 pins and are now leaders of the pack at Christmas!
Another game at Wyke Social Club saw two ladies teams fighting for points when Wyke Skylarks hosted the Muppets. Skylarks took control of the game and after winning four of the first five hands had opened up a comfortable 17 pin lead. Muppets sixth hand was going to be the best of their night and helped by an 11-pin square from Helen Carter they totalled 58. Skylarks reply was a nightmare and contained a two and two three’s. They only managed to total 35 and suddenly they were six pins behind. Muppets last hand was another steady effort and totaling 53 they set Skylarks 60 to win. They started the chase well when the top half totalled 30 but a five in the bottom half put the pressure on and when they totalled 27 between them they fell short of the target losing the match by just two pins.
On behalf of the Officers and Committee of the League may I wish all players and everyone connected with the game a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous 2018.