SPORTSMAN A hosted the Duke A in Division A of the Bridgwater Town Skittles League and opened with a solid 70 hand due, in part, to a spare from Jerry West.

Duke failed to beat the opening hand from the home side, not helped by an unfortunate nine tail from first man on Matt Michell, however they matched Sportsman’s second hand before pulling a few pins on the third.

Duke failed to pull any more pins until the final hand, but by then they were too little, too late, and the Sportsman won by 15.

In Division B, Crown Inn A played the British Flag A team away. Flag opened with a 75 after 15 spares from Darren Kitch and Colin Pople. Crown halved the deficit in the second pulling seven following spares from Adam Russell and Neil Cobb.

Flag responded by winning the next three hands to build a lead of 14. Crown raised their game for the final two hands, hitting an 82 in the penultimate hand followed by a 68 in the final hand to win by four.

Blake Arms was the venue for Lions Club A in Division C, playing the A team.

Blake opened with a steady 70 after a 17 flopper from Andy Warren, only to find it blitzed by a 90 from Lions with Jake Collard hitting a 17 flopper and further 17s from Ron Pike and Chris Nunn.

A further 90 in the third set the high point of the visitors lead at 30. Blake chipped away over successive hands but, come the final ball, Lions opening hands had done enough as they won by five.

In Division D, Castle Club A played at the Newmarket A. Castle Club hit 69 in their response to the home team’s 59, pulling 10, after a 15 spare from Stuart Woodley.

After Dave Swain’s 15 spare, Castle Club’s lead was reduced to four, before being halved again in the third after a second hand win by the home side. Castle Club won the fourth hand to extend their lead to four again.

Newmarket needed something special to end the deadlock and achieved it in the fifth hand sealing the game, with lowest scores being eights and two spares, the 76 so late in the game was too much for the visitors.

Results: Division A – Commercial Inn B v Blake Arms B (late card); Bird in Hand A 497 (D Howells 76), Cobblestones A 461 (G Heritage, G Davey 61); Sportsman A 435 (Jerry West 70), Duke A 420 D Gilbert, (S Dennison 61); Squib A506 (Trevor Clapp 77), Malt Shovel A 474 (Jon Creedy 67); Lime Kiln B v Rugby Club B (Late card); Malt Shovel B 435 (Tony Kine 64), Squib B 452 (Scott Collard 65); Great Western Club B 455 (John Frond 67), The Market C 412 (Dave Cobb 66).

Division B – Cross Rifles A 421 (Neil Hughes 63), The Market D (455 John Knight 64); Blake Hall A 488 (Paul Waters 73), Commercial Inn A 413 (Paul Bastin 59); British Flag A 481 (Colin Pople 74), Crown Inn A 485 (Neil Cobb 76); New Foresters A v Mansion House A (Late card); White Hart B 466 (Andy Modley 69), Lime Kiln A 432 (Stuart Bastin 64); Bunch of Grapes A 435 (James Howard 63), British Flag B 417 (Ian Luke 64); New Foresters B – bye.

Division C – Lions Club B 487 (Chris Rees 67), Blake Hall B 416 (J Jenkins 60); Blake Arms A 510 (Jason Davey 84), Lions Club A 515 (Jake Collard 80); West India House A 435 (Stu Whitmore 66), Great Western Club A 422 (M Coombes, J Waitelock 57); Sydenham Centre A 542 (Keith Cann 80), River Parrett A 512 (Nick Painton 70 Mansion House B 449 (Richard Druce 65), Sydenham Centre B 422 (Julian Lawrence 58); Crown Inn B 459 (T Modley, D Chidgey 61),West India House B 445 (Craig Cook 65); Rugby Club A – bye.

Division D – Cobblestones B 450 (Dean Bennett 69), Bird in Hand B 398 (Craig Weber 58); The Market B 492 (Simon Court 71), Cross Rifles B 477 (Nigel Gillard 73); The Market A 477 (Norman Hicks 76), Bunch of Grapes B 459 (Ron Crawley 65); New Market Hotel A 435 (Dave Swain 63), Castle Club A 426 (Paul Woodley 66); Castle