YET again Renegades, representing Redditch in the Gasket Guy Skittles Championships, started well in the third game of the four-team regional group, only to lose narrowly to Spitfires from Coventry.
Played at the Highway Club in Coventry, Renegades took the first leg by seven pins as Alan Cummings made a 15-stack and then the second leg by five pins to lead by 12 pins, before Spitfires reduced the deficit to eight at the halfway point by taking the third leg thanks to a 13-stack by Colin Davis.
If Renegades were hoping the break would halt Spitfires’ comeback, they were wrong as Roy Salmon made a game-changing stack of 18 in leg four, at which point Spitfires led for the first time by five pins.
Credit goes to Renegades who fought back to level the game after the completion of leg five. Both teams then bowled poorly in the final leg, with neither seeming to want to win.
First one team then the other took narrow leads and, with only the last player from each team still to bowl, the sides were level.
Up stepped Spitfires’ Roy Salmon again to take all nine pins to settle an exciting and entertaining game in his side’s favour by four pins.
Best scorers for Spitfires were Roy Salmon (51, 18-stack) and Rich Gentry (50, 11-stack), while for Renegades Alan Cummings made 51 (15-stack) and Geoff Lout 46.
The loss to Spifires meant that, to have a chance of qualifying for the Torquay finals, Renegades needed to win their remaining three games with the first, a few days later, at The Bell, Worcester, against Numpty Dumptys.
Renegades, possibly feeling slightly dispirited following that narrow loss to Spitfires, had their already difficult task made harder as Dumptys raced into a first leg lead of 11 pins, with Steve Skatts making a 13-stack before easily extending the overall margin to 20 pins after leg three.
In leg four Renegades made 58 pins, their best team total of the game, only for Numptys to top that by a single pin and that was as good as it got for Renegades.
Numptys then piled on the pressure over the last two legs, which included a 16-stack in the last leg by Les Ingram, to finish winners by a massive 69 pins having won all six legs against a Renegades side putting in their poorest performance in the five years of competing in the National Skittles Championships.
Skatts made 49 (13-stack) and Ingram 48 (16-stack) for the winners, whilst Alan Cummings and Glyn Morley both scored 40 for Renegades.
Although Renegades cannot now qualify for the Torquay finals, they have two home games left to be played next week against Fat Anchors and Spitfires and a chance at least of recovering some pride by finishing on a high.
Game results: Spitfires 351 Renegades 347; Numpty Dumptys 350 Renegades 281.
