RamsClassic Matches
93 - 94 Season (King Pin Quarter Final V Foresters ) at the Bridge Inn Lowesmoor 11-2-94
HIGHWAYMEN HIT RECORD !!! ( Headline in Worcester Evening News )
Forresters 364 V 373 Highwaymen
Highwaymen produced the best final leg in living memory in a Worcester Friendly Skittle league King Pin game when snatching a breathtaking sucess against the Foresters on the Bridge alley .
Forresters bowled superbly in this quarter final classic & a 93 opening leg with an 11 spare from Nick Oakley & 16 from Lyndon Baker helping to open a 30 pin gap . With further consistent bowling & further spares from Lyndon & his father Mick the Forresters retained their advantage & even their lowest leg of the night left the Highwaymen the seemingly impossible task of 98 to win .
An 11 by Rob Jenkins had been the Highwaymens only spare prior to the last leg . After a steady 24 from the top 3 bowlers Rob Jenkins really set up an exicting finish with a 16 spare . Ron James (12)& Trevor Davis (15) then floored another 2 spares to help the Highwaymen accumulate an astonishing 106 pins for a nine pin victory . For the Foresters Lyndon Baker (53) & Mick Baker (40) bowled superbly yet ended up on the losing side .
Note:- The Foresters have now evolved into the New Raiders the current League Champions
92 - 93 Season (King Pin 3rd Round ) at the Toby Inn 8-1-93
HIGHWAYMEN 408 v 407 MORGANITE
It is not very often that a team scores over 400 pins in a King Pin game but when both teams do that in the same game it has to be classed as one of the best games I have participated in .
After the first leg of the Highwaymen it looked as if the game was over . The Highwaymen were 22 pins down against probable the most consistent team in the Worcester Leagues . Even so the Highwaymen never gave up & kept managing to pull 4 to 5 pins back on the next 3 legs .
The Highwayemen were still 9 pins down going into their last leg & it was imperative they post a good last leg to instill some pressure on the Morganite side . This they did by posting an exceptional 94 leg which lncluded 3 spares . One each from Rob Jenkins , Dean Banfield & Mike Futrill . This left the Morganite 86 pins to win . They started as if this would be no trouble by scoring 33 off the first 3 bowlers . This included a massive 16 spare from J.Lloyd . At this stage they started to falter as they posted there first spider of the game . It came down to the last bowler (Ray Gandy ) who required 5 to win . His first ball was very unfortunate to Knock 5 down but the King pin was still standing . Therefore to take the game into a extra leg he would need to knock the other 4 pins down .This he could not do as he managed only 3 pins thus leaving the Highwaymen the victors by one solartary pin .
Their were several good individual performances but none better than Rob Jenkins with a superb 51 pins . Mitch Fowles with 45 pins also bowled well for the Highwaymen . Morganite had 3 bowlers in the 40's , Don Tyler(40) , K.Truby (40) & J.Lloyd (44) all of which were unlucky not to be on a winning team .
Note:- Their was a small write up in the paper but it did not do the game any justice . Therefore I have elaborated on the original publication .
92 - 93 Season (King Pin Quarter Final ) at the West Midland Tavern 5-2-93
HIGHWAYMEN 392 v 392 TRAVELLERS (extra leg Travellers 76 Highwaymen 71)
The game in the previous round against Morganite was going to be very difficult to beat as a classic match but this certainly came very close in terms of excitement .
Again the Highwaymens first leg was not to the best standard . After the first leg theHighwaymen were 18 pins in arrears . But as in the previous round the Highwaymen came back very strongly .After the 4th leg we were only 1 pin down . The fourth leg included 4 spares , Steve Dayus with 13 , Rob Jenkins/Trevor Holmes with 10 & Trevor Davis with 12. The leg totalled 96 pins but with 4 spares it did seem as if the Highwaymen could of taken more advantage . The Travellers had been bowling with far greater consistence up until this point of the game .
The Highwaymen's last leg of 81 pins left the Travellers the stiff task of scoring 81 to wn the game . The Travellers started with 2 consecutive spares (13 each from Mark Evans & R.Stanley) to calm the nerves . But this did not happen as their next 4 bowlers only amassed 12 pins . Eventually it came down to the last bowler of the night (G.Potter) . He required 8 to win or 7 to tie the game . After punching the middle 3 pins with his first ball this was going to be a tough task . But with nerves like steel he bowled brilliantly to score the 7 pins to take this game into an extra leg .
This was vey unfortunate for the Highwaymen as one of their bowlers had to leave early & meant the last leg had to be 11 players against 12 .
The Travellers went first & did what they had been doing all night & posted a steady king pin leg of 76 pins . This was obviously going to be difficult to achieve with 11 players . But the Highwaymen did come close . The 71 leg meant theHighwaymen lost by 5 pins with a man short . Even so the last 3 bowlers each had a chance of a spare which could of won the game but it was not to be the Highwaymens game .
Top score for the Travellers was R.Stanley with 45 pins , Mark Evans also bowled well with 42 .
Top score for the Highwaymen was Steve Dayus with 44 pins closely followed by Mike Futrill with 43 pins .
The only thing that probable stopped this being a better match than the Morganite game was the fact that the Highwaymen had to bowl the extra leg with a man short.
Note :- Travellers went on to win the Trophy by beating the Meco Sports in the Final (Meco Sports are now the Herefordshire House Bulls).
95 - 96 Season (3rd round of Doris Styles ) at the Herefordshire House 19-1-96
HIGHWAYMEN 430 v 429 SUPERSTARS
There was a considerable History of very close games between the Highwaymen & the Superstars & this game was no different . The Superstars first leg of 79 was below the required standard for this alley . The Highwaymen first leg of 91 proved the case to give us a 12 pin lead . Even so the Highwaymen decided to throw away the hard work done on the first leg by scoring 79 on the second leg . This meant the Superstars required 92 to go into the lead . In fact they did better than that as they amassed a 93 leg , this inclued a 15 spare from Dave Fryer . The Superstars next leg of 84 left the Highwaymen requiring an 87 leg to take the lead . This is precisely what the Highwaymen did to take a 1 pin lead into the 4th leg .The Highwaymen then scored an 85 leg to leave this game very evenly balanced . The Superstars next leg was very important & it looked as if they had stolen a crucial lead when they had posted a very good 91 leg . This included another 12 spare from S.Fassnidge.
The Highwaymen then knew they required 88 pins to win .Up until this stage the Highwaymen had not scored a spare but Rob Jenkins decided the time had come & he posted a 13 spare . Things looked as if they were going the Highwaymens way with a very good 48 from the top 6 bowlers . But as normal we decided we wanted to make a close game . When our anchor man (Dean Banfield) came on to bowl he required 6 pins to win . This is precisly what he got by hitting a single pin with his last ball to ensure a nailbiting finale .
Note:- Superstars folded in 1998 . We currently have 2 ex Superstars players in our squad . They are Alan Tidder & Gary Hanson .
95 - 96 Season (Semi-Finals of Doris Styles) at the Heenans Club 3-3-96
HIGHWAYMEN 456 v 435 RAIDERS
Since the Raiders have been in existence this was probable the only time the Highwaymen have convincingly beat them in several attempts . The winning margin of 21 pins actually mirrored the Highwaymens dominace of this particular game . Of the 5 legs bowled we only lost one & that was by 2 pins on the second leg . The major diferrence between the teams on the night was the number of spares taken by the Highwaymen in comparison to the Raiders . The Highwaymen took 7 spares off while the Raiders only managed 2 .
Top score for the Highwaymen was Mitch Fowles with 53 also worth a mention were Trevor Holmes with 44 & Ron James with 43 pins . Top score for the Raiders were Mark Evans with 43 closely followed by Kevin Truby with 42 .
Note :- Seeing as we do not beat them very often I thought I should add this game to the Classic Games . Also just a reminder to our team that we have won a game against the Raiders .
95 - 96 Season (Final of Doris Styles) at the Goodrest Inn 19-4-96
HIGHWAYMEN 409 v 412 MORGANITE
99 - 00 Season (3rd Round King Pin) at the Herefordshire House
Highwaymen Rams
This was always going to be a close match . Both teams having quality players . This proved to be the case as both teams on the night produced excellent performances .
The Rams won the toss & decided to bowl first thus ensuring the Highwaymen had the last pressure leg . This decison did not seem to work out intially as the Rams started with a below par leg of 58 pins . Even so with King Pin you can never tell . The Highwaymen started well enough with 2 very consistent legs . The first leg of 74 included a 13 spare from Martin Humpreys . The second leg a 15 sparee from Rich Franklin . We knew the Rams would not get another 58 leg so it was no surprise to see their 2nd & 3rd leg be far better than their first leg . Their 78 & 69 legs meant that we could not afford to drop below the standard we had set ourselves . This the Highwaymen did not do by scoring a 78 followed by an 80 leg . This included one spare from Alan Tidder (12) who managed to knock all 9 pins down with his first ball (flopper) . The most pleasing aspect of the Highwaymen's game to date was that we had not scored a spider (0) in our first 4 legs .The Rams next 2 legs had to be special to put the Highwaymen under pressure. This they did with some style by then posting the 2 highest legs of the night (94 & 83) . These 2 legs included 3 spares , one each from C.Thompson (15) , R.Peak (13) & D.Pegram (10) . this indeed left the Highwaymen a stiff target to win the match . We needed 75 pins to ensure victory.
The leg started very well with the first 6 bowlers amassing 42 pins . After 8 bowler had bowled we were well on target with 57 pins but our first problem arose with the first spider of the evenings game was posted by the unfortunate Rob Jenkins . This was then followed by a 3 from M.Chambers. The pressure was certainly on the last 2 bowlers with 15 required to win . Things did not look good when Gary Hanson put his first ball through. Then his recent good form shone through to score a vital 9 . Mitch Fowles was left a 6 to win the game . This was achieved with his first delivery & just for good measure he scored a 9 as well . This left us winners by 4 pins in a very exciting game .
I would like to say that a lot of teams would of not come back into the match like the Rams . Which goes to prove that they still are a very tough team to beat . I was very happy with the whole team performance . Especially the fact that we only scored one spider was very pleasing . The engine room of the team derserve particular praise especially Alan Tidder & Trevor Holmes who were both impressive on the night .
Top score for the Rams were D.Jones with 43 & Colin Thompson with 41 . The Highwaymen top scorers both came from the top half of the team Martin Humphreys with 40 & Rich Franklin with 42 . The top half were very impressive as they never totalled less than 40 pins for each leg .
If we bowl like this in the next round it will be an exiting game whoever we draw .
HIGHWAYMEN 386 v 382 RAMS (at Herefordshire House)
99 - 00 Season (Final of Doris Styles) at the Goodrest Inn 11-2-00
Highwaymen Surfers (QTR
FINAL DORIS STYLES)
Due to Dean Banfield not being available on Friday's the Highwaymen had to shuffle their top half order to compensate in this pressure game . The Surfers won the toss & decided to bowl first .
The Surfers first leg of 81 included scores of 3 & 1 , so they did very well to finish with an 81 total without a spare . The Highwaymen then bowled their 2 legs . The first leg of 80 which included some good bowling left us one pin behind the Surfers . The next leg started off very well with the first 6 bowlers totaling 46 pins . This leg then fell away dramatically with the top six bowlers only scoring 31 for a final score of 77 . This leg included an 11 spare from Trevor Davis . The Surfers came into the alley to bowl their next 2 legs & obviously took heart from the fact they had gained a slight advantage . Their second leg of 79 pins should of been considerable higher because after 7 of the 12 bowlers they had 60 pins on the board . It looked as if it was going to be a match winning leg but consecutive scores of 3 , 3 & 1 undid all the good work started by the first 7 bowlers . This leg included 2 spares , 14 spare from S.Ayers & 13 spare from M.Price. The Surfers next leg was a more consistent affair which included another spare from S.Ayers (12) . The 88 leg gave the Surfers a significant advantage at this stage of the game .
The Highwaymen knew they needed a minimum of two 85 legs to put some pressure on the Surfers . It did not start too well as a third leg of 78 left the Highwaymen 13 pins down on the Surfers . Up until this leg we had not managed to work a spare chance during the game . But Steve Dayus did have an oppurtunity in this leg , which he missed. The Highwaymen then knew the fourth leg had to be a big leg to give us a chance to win this game . This leg included some very good bowling indeed & also gave the Highwaymen a chance of getting back into the game . The leg total of 88 included 4 scores of nine . Up until know the top half of theHighwaymen team had been asleep but they woke up with vengance to post 46 pins from the top 6 bowlers . Rob Jenkins , Don Hewlett & Alan Tidder bowled very well for their scores of nine .
The Surfers came in & required 75 pins to tie the game on the fourth leg . By know all players realised that the kit we were playing with was not that easy & it was still possible for one team to drop in a low leg . This is exactly what the Surfers did on there last 2 legs . Their fourth leg of 72 pins had meant the Highwaymen had gone from being 13 pins down to 2 pins up . Know the pressure was on the Surfers to produce a good last leg & as we all know in the game of skittles it can be very difficult to raise your game after a dissapointing leg . The Surfers last leg of 73 pins left the Highwaymen requiring 72 pins to go into the Semi Finals . This made the Highwaymen favurites to win but with this kit the job still had to be done . The game looked to be going Highwaymens way but Mark Ballard scored an unfortunate 2 which meant the top six bowlers had scored only 35 pins . The bottom six bowlers needed 37 pins . Martin Sheppard started it with a 5 which certainly did not settle the nerves . Steve Dayus then scored an 8 to but us back on target. When reaching the last 2 bowlers we still required 11 to win . Gary Hanson had knocked down a lucky 6 with his first 2 balls & then but probable his worst ball down this season to miss the frame standing . This left Mitch Fowles 5 to tie the game & 6 to win . Mitch knocked down 5 with his first ball & secured a hard earned victory a with his second ball .
Top score for the Surfers was Steve Ayers with a superb 51 pins . Also worth a mention for the Surfers is Mick Price with 42 & C.Bushell with 39 . The Highwaymen did not have a star performer like the Surfers but had fewer bowlers with scores of under 30 pins . This consistency ulitimatley proved the diference between the teams . Top score for the Highwaymen was Don Hewlett with a good 39 pins closely followed by Steve Dayus & Mitch Fowles with 38 pins .
Our last 2 cup games have been exiciting affairs as playing against teams of this standard always promise to be . I shall post the draw for the Semi Final when it becomes available.
HIGHWAYMEN 396 v 393 SURFERS
99 - 00 Season (Semi - Final of Doris Styles) at the Bell Inn (St Johns 3-3-00
Highwaymen New Raiders
After our encounter on the 1/3/00 it was quite obvious that the New Raiders had a definate pyschological advantage over the Highwaymen . We have only ever beaten the New Raiders in the league once & that was only by one pin . The only other time we have beaten this team was when they were the Raiders & it was at the same stage of the Doris Styles competition .
The Highwaymen won the toss & decided to bowl second . As we all know in the Worcester league the Bell Inn Alley is not the easiest to play on . The New Raiders who tend to make most alleys look easy anyway struggled on the first leg by totalling an average 76 leg . Even so considering there was a spider (0) scored by the unlucky B.Wallace it was still a decent leg . The Highwaymen were encourage by the fact that the New Raiders had given us a chance . In the end we did not fully capitalise on their first leg but the 80 did give the Highwaymen a 4 pin first leg advantage . The second leg for the Highwaymen included some very good bowling & the leg score of 86 pins did not mirror the standard achieved during this leg .
This left the New Raiders 90 pins to draw level . Their second leg of 77 left the Highwaymen 13 pins in the lead & meant the New Raiders had to raise their game to put the Highwaymen under pressure. They did this to a small degree by posting an 84 leg . This could of been more as M.Jones scored a 9 spare .
The Highwaymen were chasing 71 pins to draw level , but if we wanted to win the game the Highwaymen needed at least the 84 pins to ensure the New Raiders did not gain any pins back . After Martin Humphreys had scored a 7, Dean Banfield's next ball was probably the defining moment of the game . He managed to knock all 9 pins down with his first ball & then took full advantage by totalling a huge 17 !! spare. This obviously this made it easier for us to get near the 84 . But when it got down to Mitch Fowles he still needed 4 pins to draw the leg level . Even though he had 3 correct hits he only knocked down the 4 pins required to ensure we did not lose any of our lead . It was still worrying as we did not make the most of our 17 spare . Sometimes when you do not make the most of a bit of luck ,when it comes your way , you can live to regret it later on in the game . Out next leg of 79 was a consistent affair & left the New Raiders chasing a still formidable target of 92 pins to draw level . Most of the Highwaymen felt that one of the next 2 legs to be bowled by the New Raiders would probably be one of those match winning stunners . But fortune was smiling down on the Highwaymen as the New Raiders could not raise their game . Their 4th & 5th legs of 76 & 77 respectivley left the Highwaymen chasing 62 pins to win the game .
The Highwaymens last leg could not of started any better with a superbly taken 12 spare by Martin Humphreys . In the end our tenth bowler Mark Chambers scored the winning pins to eventually give us a surprising but well derserved victory by 14 .
Top score for the New Raiders was M.Jones with 39 . Top score for the Highwaymen was Dean Banfield with an excellent 44 followed closly by Martin Humphreys with a equally good 43 .
NEW RAIDERS 390 v HIGHWAYMEN 404
