THE FINAL of the Swan Studley Skittles League Singles Knockout competition came to an unexpected climax as Craig Ellis was crowned new champion.
Given what had gone before in the quarter and semi-finals, the finish to the final was far more dramatic as Ellis got the better of closest challenger Paul Clifton.
The quarter-finals were played in four groups of six, from which the top three in each group would go through to the semi-finals.
In group one, Paul Clifton (Swingers) scored 36, Geoff Loat (Nomads) 33 and Dennis Compton (Engineers) 32 as they qualified from a closely-fought group.
Meanwhile, Tim Jones (Lodge Farmers) with 35, Pete Clewlow (Engineers, 34) and Gary Marsh (Swingers, 33) kept their nerves with their last bowls in group two to book semi-final places.
Bob Haycock (Swan, 35), Alan Cummings (Nomads, 33) and Margaret Povey (Nomads, 32) qualified from a tight group three.
Group four brought comfortable qualification for Andy Clewlow (Engineers), Eddie Upright (Nomads) and Craig Ellis with 38, 36 and 34 pins respectively.
The 12 semi-finalists were placed in four groups of three, from which only each group winner would qualify for the final.
Compton, looking in good form, was first through with 39 pins to eliminate past champion Cummings in group one. It was closer in the second group from which Upright, scoring 36, progressed narrowly, before Ellis’ 33 booked his final spot in a low-scoring third group.
In the last group, Clifton with 39 pins again needed to be in good form to see off Pete Clewlow and also eliminate the remaining lady in the competition, Povey.
Surprisingly, there had been no stack scores made by anyone in the quarter and semi rounds, but Clifton made immediate amends in the final with a ten-pin stack score in leg one to give him a narrow lead over the other three finalists before retaining his lead after the next leg.
At the completion of leg three, the final became a two-horse race between Clifton and Ellis – both making good scores – while Compton and Upright had drifted off the pace.
After leg four, Clifton continued to lead Ellis by two pins to look slight favourite to become champion.
Ellis though, had other ideas, and bowling first in the last leg produced the fireworks by making only the second stack of the evening.
It was a big stack, as he cleared all nine pins with his first ball before clearing the restacked pins with his last two balls to record an 18-pin score and become firm favourite to become champion.
It meant Clifton needed a 16-stack to set up a play-off but, when his first ball left a difficult split, his chance had gone and he had to be content with the runner-up spot.
Final group scores: Craig Ellis 49 (18-stack); Paul Clifton 40 (ten-stack); Eddie Upright and Dennis Compton 24 each.
