Scottish Regional Skittles QualifierScottish Skittles

Sunday 21 February 2010

The 2010 Scottish Skittles with Phoenix determined to hold on to their crown was its usual exciting day!

Once again we had our hard core of eight teams competing, seven teams from the Rosyth club and our welcome opponents from Falkirk.

The competition started with Alba setting the early pace moving into a nine pins lead after the first round of fixtures behind them Phoenix, Breakaways and the Imps were separated by only three pins.

The second round of fixtures was when the competition really began to heat up, Imps set the day's highest score of 82 with Willie Gibson scoring the first spare of the day; a 14 and averaging 9.3 for his throw, pretty impressive. Alba held their consistency to remain in the lead but it was now down to 4 pins, Phoenix and Breakaways remained in touch but had a bit of work to do. Falkirk was battling it out at the foot with the Golden Bowlers.

The competition had its break at this point; homemade soup sandwiches and cake were the order of the day. I'd like to thank Evelyn for making the sandwiches Janette for the home made soup and Marc for assisting with the service.

Back to the competition with all teams now changing alley, which can have strange effects on some!

The third leg of fixtures saw the battle for second spot really tighten up. Phoenix scored their highest score of the day; 72, Breakaways also scored their highest score of the day; 77 with Ramsey Mackenzie hitting the days highest spare a magnificent 15, and Imps scored their lowest score of the day a 63 to tighten everything up, so four pins separated three teams in the race for second spot and a place in the Scottish team as we entered the final round of matches. Alba remained consistently in the seventies and held a 16-pin advantage at the top.

The way the fixtures fell in the final round of fixtures the Imps were playing first and set an excellent 75, but this meant the others knew what they had to do to beat them. Phoenix and Breakaways tried but just could not raise their game to match the Imps, Alba who were cruising along also managed to give their supporters a heart attack with their lowest score of the day but managed to stagger over the line (literally) to win by 5 pins.

Strangely enough Wooden Tops, Falkirk, Oddballs and the Golden Bowlers all managed to score their highest score of the day in their final match (need to start with those next year).

So Alba, captained by Ally Barr become Scottish Champions winning The Ernie Letley Shield, they are accompanied to Cheltenham to represent Scotland by Ronnie Patterson's Imps.

Thanks to Anne Young the Scottish Regional Secretary (and Falkirk player) for presenting the prizes the Rosyth Club for hosting the event and to all members and helpers for participating and making this a successful day.

The 2010 Scottish Skittles with Phoenix determined to hold on to their crown was its usual exciting day!

Once again we had our hard core of eight teams competing, seven teams from the Rosyth club and our welcome opponents from Falkirk.

The competition started with Alba setting the early pace moving into a nine pins lead after the first round of fixtures behind them Phoenix, Breakaways and the Imps were separated by only three pins.

The second round of fixtures was when the competition really began to heat up, Imps set the day's highest score of 82 with Willie Gibson scoring the first spare of the day; a 14 and averaging 9.3 for his throw, pretty impressive. Alba held their consistency to remain in the lead but it was now down to 4 pins, Phoenix and Breakaways remained in touch but had a bit of work to do. Falkirk was battling it out at the foot with the Golden Bowlers.

The competition had its break at this point; homemade soup sandwiches and cake were the order of the day. I'd like to thank Evelyn for making the sandwiches Janette for the home made soup and Marc for assisting with the service.

Back to the competition with all teams now changing alley, which can have strange effects on some!!!

The third leg of fixtures saw the battle for second spot really tighten up. Phoenix scored their highest score of the day; 72, Breakaways also scored their highest score of the day; 77 with Ramsey Mackenzie hitting the days highest spare a magnificent 15, and Imps scored their lowest score of the day a 63 to tighten everything up, so four pins separated three teams in the race for second spot and a place in the Scottish team as we entered the final round of matches. Alba remained consistently in the seventies and held a 16-pin advantage at the top.

The way the fixtures fell in the final round of fixtures the Imps were playing first and set an excellent 75, but this meant the others knew what they had to do to beat them. Phoenix and Breakaways tried but just could not raise their game to match the Imps, Alba who were cruising along also managed to give their supporters a heart attack with their lowest score of the day but managed to stagger over the line (literally) to win by 5 pins.

Strangely enough Wooden Tops, Falkirk, Oddballs and the Golden Bowlers all managed to score their highest score of the day in their final match (need to start with those next year).

So Alba, captained by Ally Barr become Scottish Champions winning The Ernie Letley Shield, they are accompanied to Cheltenham to represent Scotland by Ronnie Patterson's Imps.

Thanks to Anne Young the Scottish Regional Secretary (and Falkirk player) for presenting the prizes the Rosyth Club for hosting the event and to all members and helpers for participating and making this a successful day.

Final placings were

  1. Alba 294
  2. Imps 289
  3. Breakaways 282
  4. Phoenix 278
  5. Wooden Tops 255
  6. Oddballs 249
  7. Golden Bowlers 228
  8. Falkirk 223

Ally Barr
Event Organiser
(And winning captain)