ENGINEERS pair Luke Saunders and Craig Ellis took the Redditch Skittles League doubles crown with victory against Sue and Frank Morris (Lodge Farmers) in the final.
Saunders and Ellis scraped through both their quarter-final and semi-final matches before bowling confidently in the final to claim the title.
In their quarter-final tie, Saunders and Ellis led throughout before a poor final leg score gave James Marshall and Alan Cummings (Nomads) the chance to win the match.
However, the Nomads pairing could only score 15 pins, one-pin short of forcing a play-off, as Saunders and Ellis prevailed 69-68 by the narrowest of margins.
There were no such problems for Sue and Frank Morris who comfortably beat Rachel Morris and Andy Rumble (Lodge Farmers) 75-51 to progress to the last four with Sue making a 14-pin stack in the first leg.
In the other quarter-finals, fellow Engineers pair, Craig Sears and Mark Ganderton, saw off Rob and Len Quartly (Jumbo Jets) 81-62 as Sears finished with 44 pins including a 16-pin stack in leg three.
And Dave Orton and Angela Guest (C and G Show) beat Maurice Wroe and Ian Greenway (Engineers) 76-64 with Orton scoring a 15-pin stack in leg two.
Moving on to the semi-finals, Saunders and Ellis overcame Orton and Guest by a single pin to clinch their place in the final.
The Engineers duo triumphed 72-71 after Orton and Guest fell one-pin short of forcing a sudden death play-off while Ellis made a 14-pin stack in the first leg.
And Sue and Frank Morris also progressed to the final with a 74-70 success against Sears and Ganderton as the pair eased to the required 10-pin total in the last leg.
Saunders and Ellis made a confident start to the final scoring 37 pins and 36 pins respectively to hold a three-pin lead.
And the Engineers pair built on their advantage to lead by nine pins at the end of leg four before scoring 15 pins in the final leg to leave Sue and Frank needing a mammoth 25 pins to claim the title.
However, Sue and Frank were unable to match their opponents efforts as Saunders and Ellis deservedly took home the cup.
