DEFENDING champions Lodge Farmers made the perfect start to the new Redditch Skittles League season.
The Farmers won their first league title last season and also recently retained the Summer Cup trophy.
And the Farmers took maximum points from their opening fixture against Bernie’s Bolts.
The Farmers narrowly won each of the first four legs to take a 15-pin lead into the final leg.
A poor last leg score from the Bolts left the Farmers needing 37 pins to win and the league champions duly scored 64 to cruise to victory.
For Farmers, Tim Jones (44, 14 stack), Frank Morris (36, 12 stack) and Glyn Morley (35) top scored.
And for Bolts, Vanda Mooney, Dan Goodman and Mark Andrews (all 32) impressed.
Last season’s runners-up Engineers battled to a hard-fought win against Nomads in their opening fixture.
Engineers won the first leg by four pins before a big score of 71 looked to take the second leg out of Nomads reach.
However, Nomads tied the leg while Engineers edged leg three but remained two pins adrift.
A 74-pin fourth-leg score put Engineers back on top as Nomads fell 20 pins adrift.
And Engineers easily found the 42 pins required for victory in the last leg although Nomads won the final leg by a single pin.
For Engineers, Mark Ganderton (43, 13 and 10 stacks), Brandon Kelso (41) and Pete Clewlow (35) top scored.
And Alan Cummings (35, 12 stack) and Jim Child and Dave Maule (both 35) impressed for Nomads.
Elsewhere, the Borough started the season with victory against C and G Show.
C and G Show produced their lowest score in the first leg as the Borough quickly opened up an 18-pin lead.
However, C and G Show fought back to win leg two and also won leg three to reduce the deficit to five pins.
The Borough took the fourth leg by three pins and also won the final leg, needing just 43 pins for victory.
For the Borough, Steve Mears (40, 12 stack), Michelle Court (36) and Julian Workman (32) top scored.
For C and G Show, Rich Fisher (35, 15 stack) and Keith Edwards and Angela Guest (both 34) all impressed.
Results
Bernie’s Bolts 285 pins (1pt) – Lodge Farmers 313 pins (10pts)
Engineers 336 (7.5pts) – Nomads 315 (2.5pts)
The Borough 297 (8pts) – C&G Show 275 (3pts)
