FAVOURITES Engineers added the Swan Studley Skittles League Summer Cup to their league triumph.
As in the qualifying rounds, the final was played between four teams on a match-play basis over six legs.
After the first leg, Lodge Farmers were out in front with 17 points, a point ahead of Team BG.
In third spot were Square Peg Round Table (SPRT) with 14.5 points with Engineers fourth with only 12.5 points.
Lodge Farmers then extended their points tally to 19.5 after completion of leg two, a lead of five points over improving Engineers. Team BG, meanwhile, remained a close third with SPRT dropping to fourth and finding scoring difficult in contrast to their heroics in the qualifying round.
At the halfway stage, the points difference between the teams was much closer.
Lodge Farmers still led but following some poor individual scores, they only had a half-point lead over Engineers, while Team BG and SPRT also took advantage of Lodge Farmers’ slip.
After leg four, Engineers finally took the lead with 17.5 points, narrowly ahead of Lodge Farmers as Team BG and SPRT lost ground.
Match play is a great leveller, though, and with leg five completed Team BG suddenly found themselves in second place, only a point adrift of Engineers. Although Lodge Farmers continued to decline, they were still very much in the game lying in third place only a half point behind Team BG. SPRT remained fourth.
Engineers then made certain of finishing top by scoring well in their last leg to finish 1.5 points ahead of jubilant runners up and Shield winners Team BG. Only a half point separated Lodge Farmers and SPRT finishing third and fourth.
The highest individual score in the final came from SPRT’s John Marsh with 50 (including 13 stack). Team mates Andy Norris scored 46 (15 stack), Dan Buckley 44 and Dave Bush 40.
Lodge Farmers’ best pin total was 41 from four players: Lynne Long (12 stack); Graham Hingley, Tim Jones and Glyn Morley.
For Team BG, Josh Stringer made 44, Alex Beard 43, and Gail Stringer 42 and for Engineers, Ian Greenway scored 43, Brandon Kelso, George Bird, Andy Clewlow and Craig Ellis 41 each and Mark Ganderton 40.
Result: Engineers 17.5 pts, Team BG 16, Lodge Farmers 13.5, SPRT 13
