THE semi final and final of the Cyril Hicks singles took place alongside the semi finals and final of the Harry Dowson Pairs on the downstairs alley of the Victoria Arms, in North Street, writes David Bright.

These competitions are entered by the best of the skittlers who compete in the Wellington Ex-Services League, and are always difficult to win on the one night when luck can play an important role.

The semi final was contested by the following six players with the top three scores progressing to the final; John Barker (Scuppas), Theo Ling (Odds and Ends), Kevin Sedgebeer (Reservists), Paul Desborough (All Stars), Steve Dowson (Holywell Lake) and Lee Ellis (Cottage Pies).

There was some good skittling on display and some bad luck both in equal measures. Theo Ling hit the first spare of the round, a 13, Paul Desborough, John Barker and Kevin Sedgebeer all started with a 9 while Steve Dowson and Lee Ellis were unlucky as the both hit a 7 each.  In the second hand Kevin's bad luck from the pairs continued after three good balls, all of which hit the object pin resulted in a 4.

His bad luck dogged him all night and he ended up with 40. a score that did not accurately reflect how he had played. In the third hand John Barker hit an 18 flopper to put him well on course for a place in the final.

This he achieved when he finished with a score of 58, the highest of the round. Paul Desborough's good form that he had he shown in the pairs carried over into the singles as he hit a fine 56 which included a 15 spare. This was good enough to see Paul progress to the final.

The third final spot was taken by Theo Ling who ended up with 53. Steve Dowson can consider himself to be unlucky when his 15 spare in the final hand saw him fall one pin short of forcing an extra hand against Theo, Steve ending up with 52. Lee Ellis was another player whose luck was not going for him; he threw some pretty accurate balls but these either went through or chopped out, Lee ended up with a score of 42.

The final was a pretty tight affair with just 5 pins separating the three finalists. Theo Ling hit a fine 16 in his second hand only for John Barker to match this immediately. It was pretty much nip and tuck, and Paul Desborough's 12 spare in the fifth hand meant it was all to play for in the final hand although John was the slight favourite at this stage. Paul started with a 7 to end up with 48, Leo really needed a spare to put the pressure on John; despite his best efforts Leo only managed a 7, this meant John just required 4 to win. This however did not prove to be as straightforward as it sounded. His first ball went through the majority of the pack just taking out the back second, his second ball only took out one more pin. However, his third ball took four pins to see him over the line by three pins. 

Congratulations to John on winning his first singles title after many years of narrowly missing out.

The league’s thanks go to The Victoria Arms for hosting both the pairs and singles, to Dave Perry for sticking up and to Darren Sparks for organising the competitions. Hopefully all the players who entered either or both competitions enjoyed themselves.