Maximums tally hits 20

League leaders Guns for Hire head into the big showdown this Sunday with second-placed Seven-Up holding a 29 point advantage over their closest rivals in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling Club, with the rest of the pack too far back to be in contention for the title.

Sunday’s action provided all the main news last weekend, with G4H taking their winning run to 20 and notching up the campaign’s 20th maximum win along the way.

This session also saw a major shuffle at the top of the individual merit following two defeats for leader Marg Tasker (Louie’s Angels) and a perfect afternoon for third-placed team-mate Matthew Keggen.

The players swopped places in the standings, with Matthew now back on top with an average of 20 and squashed in between these two is Seven-Up’s Mark Kelly on 19.9; Marg is on 19.89 as the top lady, just ahead of Jenny Moore (Outsiders), who is three points behind on 19.72.

Positions five to nine are occupied by Mike Thomas (Parkers), Derek Allen (Seven-Up), Sue Gawne and Steve Parker (Mooragh Lakers); also with six games left to play, Doug Allan (Govags) on an average of 19.

In Saturday’s league action the wind played a big factor for the first hour or so and from a set of three fixtures Mooragh Lakers emerged with two scores that saw them move within 16 points of third-placed Outsiders.

Bowl Rollers meanwhile slipped one place down the standings and are now four chalks adrift of Parkers, whereas Cannons maintained the bragging rights over their Castletown stablemates near the foot of the table.

Results for Saturday, February 1: Mooragh Lakers 116 (4), Castletown Cannons 81 (2); Castletown Cannons 106 (2), Bowl Rollers 117 (4); Bowl Rollers 84 (1), Mooragh Lakers 125 (5).

The first fixture on the list for Sunday finished with the closest outcome over the two days after Louie’s Angels came out on top with an eight point winning margin over Bits n Bobs.

This while high flyers G4H recorded their fifth full-house of games at the expense of basement side Castletown Corkers, who themselves are running out of opportunities to catch their southern rivals.

The winners next took on an Angels outfit containing players who are quite capable of taking points from any team and this proved the case after Matthew Keggen recorded a perfect session – two wins and 42 points for and just the starting 12 against – a rare feat for any player.

The Angels almost snatched another game, just missing out on 20, so with G4H dropping 15 points in this contest, they head into a possible league decider this Sunday against Seven-Up, I say possible because both teams will have one more fixture each to play later that afternoon.

The final result last Sunday saw Bits n Bobs halt a run of nine defeats with a 106 to 94 chalks win over Corkers; this score leaves the southerners 58 points adrift with four left to play, with Bits just above these two in the table.

Results for Sunday, February 2: Louie’s Angels 102 (3), Bits n Bobs 94 (3); Castletown Corkers 69 (0), Guns for Hire 126 (6); Guns for Hire 111 (5), Louie’s Angels 98 (1); Bits n Bobs 106 (4), Castletown Corkers 94 (2).

An entry of just 22 braved the elements at the midweek round robin and in the black jack doubles the winners were Bernard Thackrah and Kevin Firth, ahead of second-placed Paul Callister and Trish Bull.

The other group saw Steve Parker and Peter Corlett take the honours after they edged out Ken Karran and Mark Kelly by just one point.