So the final week of season 6 – 3 new starters…… Welcome to Laura Fawcett, daughter of UK bowling hall of fame member and old round grumpy git Alan Fawcett. Welcome to long time dunny league player Reece Parker, and welcome to the RAF’s Dave “conkers” Conner…
Championship
A very decent 16 bowlers this week, making points harder to come by. A good performance again from youngster Alfie Humphrey with had a final game of 247 for a 796 set. But Ray Lay put in his best performance of the season with a 815 block and 257 game for a clean sweep of the pots and £32 quid in his back burner.
Overall
All the runners and riders at the top of the league were on the same pair. But Spencer Edwards put in the best performance and that took him to the championship title at his first crack. Spencer finished on 299 pts with Richard Parker in 2nd on 289pts with Gary Waghorn in 3rd.
Premiership
Wow what a night – some amazing skittles by the top 3 as they tried to stop the rampaging Lee Miller. Matt Trotter on the night shot games of 198,252,245,232 for a 927 but he was low man of the 3 ! – Alan Keddie was denied a 300 by a stubborn 10 pin and shot a 970 but that was better Miller who shot games of 236,290,248,256 for a 1030. So high game pot to Keddie and high Series to Miller.
Overall
Miller finished top with a 239 average of 28 games – that’s some going. Alan Keddie was 2nd averaging 217 over 36 games, and Matt Trotter 3rd with a 224 average over 32 games – some great bowling by these 3 this season
A total of £1315 paid out this season, through league placings the pot winnings. 48 different bowlers coming along and having a bowl – making it the most successful league so far.
Next Monday we head straight into season 7 ! so come down and have a bowl and give this league a try for one season – each season only lasts 10 weeks and you’re not committed to bowl every week.
But what’s the league all about …. He is a refresh…
Dunstable Divisional Drop in Singles…
4 games – cost £20 / Week or £17.50 / week – depending on what division you’re in.
This is going to be a brand new way of looking at league bowling.. and I will explain it best I can.. .
So there are two divisions – a Premiership for the 185+ bowlers and a Championship <184 bowlers.
Leagues are 10 weeks long – BUT you don’t have to bowl 10 weeks. You can if you want, but your best 6 weeks will count to your final league position. The plan is to have promotions and relegations based on your average at the end of each league cycle.
And you have to bowl a minimum of 6 weeks to be eligible to win an end of season cash prize. But don’t worry there are weekly pots to win so you can drop in every now and then and play for the weekly pots.
Another unique aspect to this league is you don’t play an opponent… how can you if people are dropping in and dropping out. Instead you will get points on your individual games scores…
So here is an example of how it works:
Game 1
Highest game Score – 15pts
2nd highest game – 13pts
3rd highest game – 12pts
4th highest game – 11pts
5th highest game – 10pts
6th highest game – 9pts
and so on till ya get to zero points.
Tied games will get the same points.
There will be weekly individual high game and high series pots.
And a prize fund for the end of season payout based on league position.
But a bowler must have completed at least 6 out of the 10 weeks.
You will be allocated a lane when you pay… and championship and premiership bowlers will be put together on the same lanes.
This is a new idea.. and I’m feeling my way as I go along. But hopefully it will grow and evolve and will have a third division and more challenging patterns for the higher divisions.
Breakdown of costs:
They are different based on which division you’re in
Premiership 185+ average = £20
Championship 184- average = £17.50
Having your 6 best out of 10 means bowlers don’t have to bowl every week, and having weekly pots means bowlers can drop in every now and then and still win something. There’s something for everyone, you can bowl as often or as little as you like and still get something out of this league. If you get home from work and fancy a bowl, which sometimes happens… then you can drop in and have a chuck.
The Football league system of promotions and relegations is something we are all familiar with, especially for me as I support Watford. It’s something I really like from bowling in the midland scratch league. It makes you strive to be better in the hope of getting to the top division, and keeps the season alive as you try and avoid relegation if you happen to be down the bottom.
So we got two divisions and they will all share the lanes, so you have bowlers of all abilities on the lanes together. Because I want bowlers in the lower division to see how the higher average bowlers play and how they play the lanes. Perhaps it will break down the opinion that it can sometime be elitist and that the better average players aren’t approachable, and you can ask them about your own bowling and pick up some tips. Just don’t approach me, especially if I have just had an open !
I’ve also reduced the cost for the lower division, because I think these bowlers are perhaps a more social bowler and perhaps prize fund and winning money isn’t such a priority for these guys.
Long term it would be great to have 3 average weighted divisions, where the bottom leagues plays on recreational patterns, then you step up through the divisions who play on challenger patterns and then the top divisions play on true sports patterns. Also, a league where you can play brackets and win some extra cash.
This league if every Monday at Dunstable – we bowl at 8.00, but I need bowlers to be there from 7.30 for registration
What a week… who says bank holiday bowling isn’t popular. Best ever turn out last night lanes 1 through 16 all being played on. Not only that but in the field was the best bowler this country has ever produced and one of the best bowlers in the world… yes that’s right Matt Trotter… oh and Dom Barrett also rocked up and bowled. Also bowling was New Brunswick staff bowler Ben Robinson, and England International Evie Giddens. Also making a league come back was Hayden Hewitt.
This week we switched it up and played on a tougher 43ft pattern, as our visiting PBA All star needed a bit of competitive practice… he said as a thank you, he will give 10% of his next winners cheque to the league (ok he never said that….)
Championship
Only one 200+ game across the 12 bowlers. And that was thrown by Gary Waghorn in game 2 with a 219. Gary put together a decent block, though no doubt he thought it was rubbish… but a 731 was good enough to win the high set pot.
This is the thing with this league… you may think your having a bad night, but you got to keep going.. because your finding the lanes and scoring hard its likely that everyone else is and if you grind out a respectable set you’d be surprised at how many points you amass.
Overall
Going into the final week – Spencer Edwards in the lead on 299, 10pts ahead of Richard Park who is on 289…. And despite the low scoring week, both look set for promotion. Gary Waghorn is 3rd.
Premiership
It was a chastening week… most of us struggling and some think we’re doing well… then we look across at Dom Barrett whose in 1st gear shooting games of 226,246,205,246 for a 923 set for the high series pot…. Just shows now matter how good you think you are in your head… you’re not PBA good ! Totally different gear. Alan Keddie not having a great set, but still managed one good game, 259 and that took the pot. New Brunswick staffer Ben Robinson shot a 254. Also worth mentioning Lee Miller kept up his high average with a 914 block and Matt Trotter shot a decent 884
Overall
Lee Miller now takes over at the top on 302 pts, Alan Keddie holds on 2nd with 287pts and Matt Trotter is 3rd on 277.
Next week is week 10 – the final week of season 6. Come down and give the league a go and get for a feel for how it works ready for season 7 which starts the following week.
If you want to watch the twirlers and whirlers on the stream from last night then click here https://www.twitch.tv/basherback2back
Week 8 – And before we get started – NEXT Monday is a bank Holiday – BUT YES WE ARE BOWLING – so if you want to get some practice in before the BTBA Intercounty Qualifiers then come along.
Championship.
Spencer Edwards threw his best ever game in game 2 a 266 ! His dad (Cass Edwards of Sky Sports fame) “reliably” told me that this is definitely Spencers highest ever game… but he still found something in there to moan at him about ! – Spencer shot a 820 block to clean sweep the pots. The only other bowler in the championship shooting a 800+ was Gary Waghorn with a 803. I was a score sheet missing… by process of elimination I discovered it was Jamie O’dwyers sheet… So I looked up his scores on lane talk. Now I know why he didn’t hand it in … 629 set ! hahahaha
Overall
Two weeks left and the top 2, Richard Parker and Spencer are way clear of the rest of the field. Richard is on 289pts and Spencer of 298pts. Both bowlers averaging over the threshold of a 185 average which means promotion to the Premiership
Premiership.
Decent scoring all round. We saw the return of Lobbers who shot a decent 863 set. Alan Keddie won the high game pot with a 257 game… he needed some good news as personally / mechanically he is on a run of terrible luck. But shooting the high series once again was Lee Miller with a 921 set – Lee’s now averaging 237 over 20 games.
Overall
Alan Keddie remains top with Matt Trotter in 2nd and having played a week less Lee Miller rounds out the top 3. Lee is 29 points behind Keddie so if he plays next week you would expect him to leap up to 1st place.
You can catch up on all the action via the twitch channel https://www.twitch.tv/basherback2back
Week 7 of season.
Mixed things up this week with a different pattern…. Similar in length to the house pattern little bit more volume, but the major difference was the ball reaction at the back end… not as clean or as sharp, more squirty… is that a good description.
We had a new bowler this week… Malcolm Jones, welcome. And a returning old orange face – Jamie O’Dwyer, richest lorry driver in the world made an appearance.
Championship.
Jamie O’Dwyer shot a decent 799 block. High game went to Spencer Edwards with a 244 and Spencer finished with a 811 set. But taking the high series pot this week was Richard Parker with a 820.
Overall
Couldn’t be tighter up the top of the championship – Richard Parker and Spencer Edwards are 1st & 2nd but both tied on 285 points. Spencer has a lower dropper then Richard and also a higher average.
Premiership
Only 4 of the 10 bowlers managed to break 800 and no one got into the 900’s – and that’s despite Lee Miller banging in a 280 first game. That gave Miller high game pot and a 897 series meant a 2nd week where he has won both pots. Also shooting 800+ was Matt Trotter 838 and Big Mac 828 and Basher 814 – which had no opens in and a 1 spare – where he took the 7 pin clean out of the deck.
Overall
Alan Keddie takes over at the top now, Jordan Hart slipping down to 2nd with Matt Trotter in 3rd. But Lee Miller with a 239 average is rapidly climbing up the table and should be challenging at the top by 9.
This Sunday 21st August we have a king of the hill tournament at Dunstable – there are currently 3 spaces left. If you would like to enter then please click on this link https://form.jotform.com/222003199961354
If you fancy bowling in the drop in singles league, you can join anytime in the season – we bowl every Monday registration is from 7.30 and we start at 8pm and we bowl 4 games, not 3 !
Week 6 of season 6. A decent turnout considering we’re in the summer holidays
Championship
A great consistent block by Spencer Edwards 210,213,203,205 for a 831 set that gave him the high set pot. But a 237 game from Jo Green won her the high game pot.
Overall standings – Richard Parker is in the lead with a 192 average and 272 points with Spencer in 2nd on a 197 average and 238 points – but Spencer has played a week less then Richard and will catch up. These two look to be on course for promotion to the Premiership.
Premiership
Lee Miller on 11 in a row steps up for a 300 – pulled it, and it slid through the oil, never gripped and slid past the head pin for a 7 count and a 297 game which won him the high game and with a 968 Miller the Ferret clean swept the pots – he’s now averaging 244 over his 12 games.
Overall standings – Jordan the Hit Man Hart still leads the league but has played a week more then the rest of the field. In 2nd is Alan Keddie and 3rd is Lee Bradley
But from week 7 onwards, players starting catching up their missing weeks and dropping their lowest scoring weeks, so it starts taking shape from here on in.
Watch Miller blowing a 300 here https://clips.twitch.tv/TenaciousBigWombatPeoplesChamp-YxG1Zdpr024Q_aeS
League runs every Monday – everyone welcome to come and join the league at any point in our season. Just rock up at Dunstable bowl between 7.30 – 8pm on Monday.
Week 5 of season 6 – Some returning faces… Mark Richardson done a lord Lucan after season 4 but he re-appeared last night for his long awaited debut in the premiership. Also returning were the roofer’s Kev and his boy Harry Creamer – double the security and make sure your cars are locked !
Championship
Some good bowling in this division tonight. Sal Spence put together a decent 815 block and was the 3rd highest point scorer on the night. Richard Parker’s fine form continues as he put together a 800 block to secure 49pts, but top point scorer on 52 points with a 841 block was Spencer Edwards. Spencer also secured the high game pot with a 244 game.
Overall
Richard Parker continues in the lead, a massive 31pts ahead of Sal Spence in 2nd with Spencer in 3rd – though Spencer has played a week less. Richard and Spencer are on course for promotion to the premiership.
Premiership
Wowzers – we’ve only had maybe 1 or 2 1000 sets in the 6 seasons… then all of sudden you get 2 in the same night ! Some top skittling on show. Matt Trotter “grinded” out a 1003 set – but that didn’t win him either the high game or high set pot. Because Lee the ferret Miller went and shot 224,237,278,277 for a 1016 block and a clean sweep of the pots.
Overall
Previous league leader Mark Secker Bag had a week off, and a good week for Jordan Hit Man Hart meant he surged to the top of the league on 206 points with Lee Bradley in 2nd on 198pts, then in 3rd is Alan Keddie on 197th – but Ked’s has played a week less and will surely take the lead when he catches up.
I should be back next week – health permitting. But I want to thank Monsieur Bradley for looking after the league in my absence
The entry form for the next King of the Hillz tournament is out – and you can enter via this link https://eu.jotform.com/build/222003199961354
Week 4 – and Basher handed the league reins over to his good friend… ok just his friend, ok.. to a bloke he knows… Lee Bradley !
And perhaps it was because Basher weren’t there that we had a great turn out, 24 bowlers and 2 newbies youngster – Alfie Humphrey and long time Dunny league bowler Andrew McLoughlin – welcome. And making a re-appearance to the league was Lee “the ferret” Miller… now I’m taking it personally… I’ve asked him loads of times to come and have a bowl, then when I’m not there he re-surfaces !
Championship
Some good performances this week, Jo Green bounced back from a bad week to shoot 820 set, but it was Richard Parker AGAIN who clean swept the pots. Richard won the high game with 236 and then the set pot with 821, beating Jo by one pin. Elsewhere Gerry Wrathall had a good block 781 and Alfie Humphrey had a good game with a 224 that nearly won him a pot on his first night.
Overall – Richard Parker has a commanding lead in the league with a 29 point lead from Sal Spence in 2nd but more importantly his current average is 192, if it finishes that high Richie will finally be promoted to bowl with the hurlers and twirlers in the premiership.
Premiership
It’s so typical of the “ferret” Lee Miller, doesn’t turn up for ages, wipes the dust of his bowling bag rocks up and shots a 952 block (256,228,241,227) and wins the pot. But luckily Darren Fox shot a 269 to win the high game pot to deny Lee the clean sweep.
Overall – Lee Bradley had a bad night, probably the stress of running the league, this meant that good old Mark Secker Bag has risen to the take the lead 7 points ahead of Bradders and Jordan the Hit Man Hart is 3rd – but the BIG FISH are yet to enter the pond !!! – namely ME ! – oh and Trotter and Keddie… Possible Lobbers later in the season and maybe Miller if turns up again.
Week 3 of season 6 – it was a super scorcher, the hottest day on record anywhere ever – according to the BBC news we would all die if we left the house.
But league bowlers are a hardy lot, perhaps a bit mental – and this was proven when 18 of us rocked up to bowl.
This is why bowling proprietors have to value league bowlers… because we go bowling on super sunny days and sub zero snowy days – league bowlers will be there ! – we’re hard core.
Championship – Richard Parker had every thing in his block of 4, a rocky start a steadying of the ship a lane change due to a break down and then some great bowling to finish off – Richard went 143, 201 (lane change) 238, 243 for a 825 block and that won him high game and high series pot in his division. Also scoring good points (50) was Spencer Edwards
Overall – it’s still early days, but Richard parker leads with Sal Spence and Lisa Cook in 2nd and 3rd.
Premiership
Despite their being a heat haze at about 50ft there was still some good skittles. Lee Bradley with the front 10 then a rather woeful 6/ for a 286 in game 2 gave him the high game pot, and then he completed the clean pot sweep by shooting a 940. But he was wasn’t top point scorer. That honour went to the very sweaty sock Alan Keddie who shot a 920 but ended up with 54 points.
Overall – Lee Bradley leads the league, averaging 216… this boy used to be in the championship average 170ish a year ago. In 2nd is Mark Secker bag and in 3rd is Jordan the Hit Man Hart.
Catch up on the action via twitch … https://www.twitch.tv/basherback2back
I’m away for the next two Mondays – leaving the league in the capable hands of Mr Lee Bradley.
Week 2 of Season 6 – man it was a scorcher. I swear there was a heat haze at about 50ft. A very poor turnout this week, but it was too be expected – it was a busy weekend of bowling with the MSL, Lez Rogers Memorial event and the senior event in Shipley. But it did mean that those that played picked up some good points.
Championship – Any game over 200 was a good game it this heat. Rob Yandell opened up with a 208 and Rich Parker a 202, but the highest game of the evening and earning himself the pot money went to Jason Gowland who shot a 233 in game 3. The high series pot also went to Jason who shot a 729 just beating Richard Parkers 720. But it was one them nights where even though Jason won both pots he only came 4th in the points situation.
The early league leader is Sal Spence followed by Richard Parker.
Premiership – Basher took awhile to acclimatize to the heat as he opened with 156 but a strategic bit of white tape meant he bounced back with a 253 to win the high game pot. Lee Bradley banged in a decent set with 860, but the high series pot went to the sweaty sock (literally) Alan Keddie with a 884 block.
Early league leader is Lee Bradley with Mark Secker Bag in 2nd
Week 3 next week – lets hope with can start getting the attendance back up into the 20’s
July 24th is the King of the Hill event at Dunstable – there are currently 9 spaces remaining. If you wish enter this event then please click here and enter https://form.jotform.com/221664323403346
So round we go again… week 1 of a new season, Season 6 of the drop in singles league. New bowler this week Spencer Edwards, son of the leg-end Cass Edwards.
Championship – Gary Waghorn continuing his good form from last season into this one shooting a 235 in game 3 to take the high game pot. Spencer was in there like swim wear and made an impressive debut shooting an 817 set, not bad for someone who hasn’t bowl competitively since YBC days. But Spencer was denied a pot on his first week by the impressive Waghorn who shot a 821 set. Ray lay and Sal Spence both shot decent sets as well. Should be a competitive championship league this year and hopefully a few bowlers earning promotions into the premier league.
Premiership – Matt Trotter going for the three-peat. Having won the last 2 leagues, Matt cruised to a 974 set, and even managed to sandbag in the last game, he doesn’t want his average getting too high, just keep it in the 240’s this season. Matt won both pots with a 266 in game 2. Big Mac Macpherson shot a decent 856 and Jordan the Hit Man Hart had a consistent block for a 852.
Anyone can join the league at any point in the season, and bowl as little or as often as they like – every Monday at 7.30 for a 8pm start.
July 24th is the 3rd King of the Hill tournament at Dunstable – we still have 10 spaces remaining and you can enter the tournament here https://form.jotform.com/221664323403346
