LEADERS Maudslay maintained their 100 per cent record with victory over Alley Cats as the Swan Studley Skittles League reached the halfway stage.
Playing a man short, Alley Cats took the third leg to be, at that stage, only six pins adrift, but could not maintain the momentum and the leaders pulled steadily away over the last two legs.
It was always likely to be a case of after the lord mayor’s show for Paul Matthews following his league record 59 pins in the previous game, but his 38 (13-stack) against Alley Cats was still a great total and a big boost for Maudslay who also had Dean Watson making a 15-stack in a total of 41.
Team-mates Stu Griffiths and Tom Roberts made 36 apiece. Alley Cats’ best scorers were Pete Sollis 40 (14-stack) and 33 each from Sam Billyard, Anne O’Connor and Neil Harrison.
Second placed Engineers kept up their push for top spot with a slightly flattering win over third placed Jumbo Jet Set.
In a close and high-scoring game, Engineers won two legs, although only by a single pin and shared one other leg to leave Jumbos wondering what might have been with a few more pins to their name.
There were no stacks in the game for the winners who all bowled consistently well, with Mark Ganderton making 42, George Bird 38 and Brandon Kelso 37.
By contrast, Jumbos had four stacks from Len Quartly (14) in a total of 44, Dan Hill (13 and 10) in a 43 and Rich Johnston (11) in a 36, whilst Pete Battle-Welch also scored 36 pins.
The league is more competitive than in previous years and only five games have ended with the winners taking the maximum ten points.
The latest team to achieve this were Well Developed who climbed to fourth from bottom and above opponents Chris & Gerry Show with an easy win.
Well Developed’s captain Dave Searle could afford not to play in this game and his confidence in his team was rewarded as Martin Brennan made 37 and Liz Hindson and Ros Pottinger 31 each.
C&G Show, with only nine players, had best scores from Chris Williams 35, Angela Guest 31 and Craig Sears 30.
Alcester Nomads showed little mercy to Swan, who dropped into bottom spot for almost certainly the first time in their history.
Nomads were 14 pins up after leg one and 25 after leg three and, with the game virtually won, relaxed as Swan won leg four by a single pin.
However, any sign of a Swan recovery was quickly stifled as Nomads took the last leg by 18 pins.
Nomads had Tony Moore making 43 (15-stack), Alan Spreckley 38 and Gordon Povey 37. In reply, Al Lumb scored 43 (16-stack) and Matt Reynolds 35 for Swan.
Results: Maudslay 9 (339 – ten players and 318 – nine players) Alley Cats 2 (287 – nine players); Jumbo Jet Set 2 (338) Engineers 9 (344); Chris & Gerry Show 1 (251 – nine players) Well Developed 10 (302 – ten players and 285 – nine players); Alcester Nomads 9 (348) Swan 2 (306).
