There was to be no traditional Christmas buffet for Hustlers as Hillview’s parsimonious players preferred to welcome their visitors with a narrow win.
Gary celebrated a return to form, dominating first leg with a useful, and top-scoring, 44. Malc was unfortunate in being up against Hillview’s top player, shipping 15 pins and leaving Hustlers with slim pickings of an 8 pin shortfall.
Second leg, however, more than made up for things and Hustlers feasted on Hillview’s weakest leg. All three players beat their opponents, Pete leading with an excellent 43, and Hustlers gained 16 pins to turn the game around at the halfway point.
It was hoped that Hustlers would pick up a few morsels on third leg but it was not to be so. All three players lost pins to their opponents and a 6 pin deficit left Hustlers with a narrow lead of 2 pins.
There were to be no crumbs of comfort for last leg. Swayner misfired and lost 10 to his opponent and, although both Lewis and Rob scored well, Hustlers lost 11 pins on the leg and ended up 9 sandwiches short of a picnic.
| Away vs Hillview Men 16 December 18 – Lost by 9 | |||||||||
| Place | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Total | V man! |
| 1 | Neil | 3 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 34 | +2 |
| 2 | Gary | 8 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 44 | +5 |
| 3 | Malc | 6 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 30 | -15 |
| Leg | 17 | 17 | 21 | 17 | 14 | 22 | 108 | -8 | |
| 4 | Pete | 8 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 43 | 5 |
| 5 | Chatz | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 37 | 2 |
| 6 | Brian | 6 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 34 | 9 |
| Leg | 21 | 23 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 17 | 114 | 16 | |
| 7 | Clive | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 34 | -1 |
| 8 | John | 7 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 29 | -4 |
| 9 | Andy | 9 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 37 | -1 |
| Leg | 20 | 16 | 17 | 13 | 17 | 17 | 100 | -6 | |
| 10 | Swayner | 5 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 32 | -10 |
| 11 | Lewis | 8 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 39 | 1 |
| 12 | Rob | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 39 | -2 |
| Leg | 21 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 110 | -11 | |
| Hillview Men 441 v 432 Hustlers | |||||||||