ALCESTER Nomads stayed top of the Swan Studley Skittles League after registering the season’s highest team total (354 pins) thanks to six players making stacks (ten pins or more).
Opponents Jumbo Jet Set started with a poor first leg score and Nomads took full advantage to open up an immediate 24-pin lead and three further legs of 70-plus ended any hope Jumbos had of recovering.
This was Nomads’ fifth win on the bounce with Bob Browning making 41 (14-stack), Geoff Lout 40 (14-stack) and 39 each from Annette Upright (14-stack) and John Hedges (16-stack).
Jumbos’ best replies came from Len Quartly 39 (12-stack), Geoff Turton 38 and Mick Stanton 34.
Maudslay will be disappointed their pin total of 353 was pipped by Nomads, but will be pleased to be up to second place, close on the leaders’ heels with two games in hand.
Maudslay lost their first game of the season but have now won six on the trot, the latest against C&G Show who have slipped in recent weeks from top to fourth place.
C&G show had Arthur Sears making 35 and Craig Sears and Angela Guest scoring 34 each. Maudslay’s players were all in good form and top scores came from Mark Sanseverino and Dave Ford with 43 each, the latter with an 11-stack, and Stu Griffiths’ 38.
The basement clash between Swingers and Mixtures saw the teams swap league places as Swingers ended a miserable six-game losing streak. This was Mixtures’ sixth straight loss.
For Swingers, Paul Clifton made 37, Judith Clews 34 and Brenda Morris and Margaret Hendy 32 each.
Well Developed gave last year’s runners-up Engineers a big fright as they took the first two legs to lead by nine pins, but they could not keep up the momentum as Engineers clawed their way back into a low-scoring game.
Well Developed eventually left Engineers only 60 pins to win but this was only achieved thanks to last man Mark Ganderton who finished with 34 pins.
Other main scores for Engineers were Andy Clewlow 37, Dennis Compton 35 and Ian Greenway 34. Well Developed had good scores from Margueritte Bayley 35 and 33 each from Ros Pottinger and David Searle.
After a poor start to the season, leaving them bottom of the table, Swan are on the rise having won their last four games. This time they were only narrowly leading nine-man Alley Cats after two legs before pulling away to win comfortably as three players – Andy Reynolds, Joe Withers and Graham Howells – each made 36 pins.
Alley Cats’ best were Tony O’Connor 34 (12-stack) and Pete Sollis and Malcolm Batchelor with 33 each.
Results: Jumbo Jet Set 3 points (317 pins) Alcester Nomads 8 (354); Alley Cats 2 (271 – nine players) Swan 9 (293 – nine players and 313 – ten players); Maudslay 9 (353) Chris & Gerry Show 2 (318); Swingers 9 (303) Mixtures 2 (285); Engineers 7 (312) Well Developed 4 (308).
