Author: TC

Hustlers well and truly plucked

With our skipper and Chairman off sunning themselves in Europe, the Hustlers looked to continue the season’s cup run.  How would they fare against the Pluckers on the unfamiliar territory of Hatherley’s Double Barrel?

Stand-in skipper Rob put us in to set and 1st leg gave us a good 6-pin lead, with both AU & Lofty getting to 40.  2nd leg performed steadily, but couldn’t match the Pluckers, so ended the 1st half of the match trailing by 3 pins and all to play for.

3rd leg then stepped up and struggled to find the pins.  Never having sat on the bench before, Rob succeeded in getting lowest score for the 2nd time this season as 19 pins were lost, leaving the anchor to get 23 pins to win.  Despite Gary’s top-scoring 45 (featuring our first spare of the season) and winning the leg, it wasn’t quite enough and we ended the match losing by 14 pins.

With the sad demise of the Divers, we have no game next week, so our next match is away yet again (will we ever play at the Suffolk again?) at Cheltenham CC.  Rob will be in the chamois trousers, while Lewis owes Jim (match fees) and Gary (spare), so who will be least happy?

6/10/09   v Pluckers @ Double Barrel

AU 6 8 7 5 9 7 42
JT 2 6 6 8 7 7 36
Lofty 8 6 6 6 6 8 40

1st leg total 118 v 112

TC 9 5 4 8 5 5 36
Rich 9 2 4 5 6 7 35
Lewis 5 8 3 5 6 9 36

2nd leg total 105 v 114

Rob 2 3 7 7 5 8 32

Steve

 5 6 7 4 6 5 33
Stu 6 5 6 6 8 7 38

3rd leg total 102 v 122

AS 8 6 7 8 4 5 39
Gary 7 13 5 6 7 7 45
Neil 6 6 8 3 3 7 33

4th leg total 116 v 109

Grand total 443 v 457

WIN by -14

Hustlers Creamed

In alien territory (well, Bishops Cleeve), could the Hustlers set a high enough score to beat the Cream?

With Jim making his first appearance of the season, 1st leg made a decent start, AU’s top-scoring 40 helping the ‘Slurs off to a 4-pin lead.  A consistent performance followed as 2nd leg got our highest leg total of the night and extended the leg to 17 pins.

Then the drama started.  3rd leg started off well enough, but then Mark started trying to get a beaver so he could take our Barry back home with him once more, and we finished a solitary pin ahead, leaving it all to the anchor.  Consistency was the name of the game and they started the leg by gaining pins.  But it didn’t take the Cream long to start pulling back the pins and ultimately turn the game completely their way to take it by 21 pins.

Pete and Clive are both off with some birds next week, so we face the Pluckers at the Double Barrel on Tuesday with Rob in charge.  Will he be able to turn our fortunes around?

30/9/09   v Cream @ RBL, BC

AU 5 4 8 9 8 6 40
Jim 4 5 5 5 6 3 28
Pete 5 8 8 5 4 7 37

1st leg total 105 v 101

TC 8 6 6 7 5 7 39
AS 4 5 9 8 7 6 39
Lewis 7 9 4 7 6 4 37

2nd leg total 115 v 102

Gary 7 7 8 7 5 4 38

Mark

 6 4 2 1 4 5 22
Stu 6 3 4 7 7 7 34

3rd leg total 94 v 110

JT 7 7 6 5 5 6 36
Olive 6 8 6 5 3 6 34
Neil 6 6 4 8 7 4 35

4th leg total 105 v 126

Grand total 419 v 439

WIN by -20

Hustlers not so Krafty at the Robins

What an exciting time for our first away game of the season.  Losing the toss and following on, we got off to an indifferent start, with Dobbin getting his first beaver of the season (but he’ll have to wait until next week to take charge of Barry, as Steve left him at home) and both sides failing to break the 100 mark.

A new look 2nd leg stepped up and battled to overturn the 4-pin deficit to level the game.  3rd leg bit in a big performance to become the highest scoring (for both sides) with a 40 from Lewis, while the vetetran JT & Stu combination were only 1 behind him.  And so the anchors came in with the game square and all to play for.  A yo-yo leg saw us go into the last hand needing 3 x 7 to win – only to fall 5 short.

With Rob in the chamois trousers for the next game, as well as caring for Barry, we can expect him to be a grumpy little Gooner.  Especially as we have a free week next Monday – time for our trip meeting and a bowl up at the Suffolk.

14/9/09   v Kraftsmen @ Robins Nest

Lofty 4 6 5 6 6 6 33
Rich 6 5 6 3 6 6 32
Dobbin 7 3 7 0 5 5 27

1st leg total 92 v 96

TC 6 5 7 6 6 6 36
AS 4 6 7 6 3 9 35
AU 8 6 3 5 7 5 34

2nd leg total 105 v 101

JT 4 7 8 8 6 6 39

Lewis

 6 5 8 4 8 9 40
Stu 5 7 8 7 6 6 39

3rd leg total 118 v 118

Olive 7 8 3 5 6 5 34
Steve 2 9 6 6 4 6 33
Mel 7 6 9 4 6 5 37

4th leg total 104 v 108

Grand total 419 v 423

WIN by -4

Jet Propelled

In time-honoured fashion, our 1st league game of the season saw us setting.  An indifferent start soon changed as 1st leg set the standard for the rest to follow, with a 13-pin lead.  With the reappearance of AU, 2nd leg did their best to lose that lead, but still handed over a lead of 3 pins.  With a returning Lewis making his Hustlers season debut, 3rd leg reestablished the 13-pin lead, becoming the top-scoring leg in the process.  Incredibly, and with a good deal of help from the Jets, our anchors proceeded to add a further 16 pins to the lead, giving us a 29-pin victory.

3 consecutve wins?  Our best start for some time – let’s make sure it continues in this vein when we face the Kraftsmen next Monday at the Robins Nest.

7/9/09   v Jets   @ Suffolk

Lofty 7 6 8 5 5 8 39
Rich 5 6 6 7 6 6 36
Steve 5 4 9 7 9 7 41

1st leg total 116 v 103

TC 5 5 6 8 4 7 35
Pete 5 3 5 6 5 5 29
AU 6 6 7 6 6 8 39

2nd leg total 103 v 113

JT 7 7 8 6 6 7 41

Lewis

 6 6 6 6 6 9 39
Stu 7 7 7 5 6 5 37

3rd leg total 117 v 107

Olive 5 6 8 8 7 9 43
Gary 6 4 4 7 7 7 35
Dobbin 4 7 5 6 8 6 36

4th leg total 114 v 98

Grand total 450 v 421

WIN by 29

Hustlers show no charity

With Clive winning the toss, we began this Hospitals Cup match with gleaming new balls and a newly polished alley.  Rich quickly managed to put a dent in 1 of the balls, nearly causing Zammo to cry.  A steady first leg top-scored and gave us a 6-pin lead.  Up stepped the 2nd leg, increasing our lead by a stonking 13 pins, and notching up both our first 9s and 40 of the season.

Our seasoned campaigners then stood up to form 3rd leg and stretch our lead by a further 7 pins, handing a healthy 26-pin lead over to the anchors.  Some interesting scoring, culminating in our 2nd 40, saw us actually drop 6 pins leaving us with a 20-pin victory to start off this year’s cup campaign.  How far will we progress?  Keep watching this space.

And on top of it all, we raised £17 for charity.

1/9/09   v Old Pats C   @ Suffolk

Lofty 7 6 7 8 5 5 38
Rich 4 7 7 8 6 7 38
Clive 8 7 7 8 6 3 39

1st leg total 115 v 109

TC 7 5 6 3 9 8 38
Salty 3 5 6 6 6 9 35
Steve 5 7 8 8 7 5 40

2nd leg total 113 v 100

Pete 7 6 7 6 3 6 35

AS

 7 5 9 4 7 2 34
JT 5 5 7 6 7 8 38

3rd leg total 107 v 100

Mel 6 8 5 5 7 9 40
Gary 5 5 5 7 7 7 36
Dobbin 6 2 8 7 6 7 36

4th leg total 112 v 118

Grand total 447 v 427

WIN by 20