Chew Stoke Bowling Club
CSBC Monday Night League
Week 10 - Monday 4 August
This was the final round of matches in the inaugural CSBC Monday Night League.
Three teams were still in a battle to win the title with two teams trying to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.
Ali's Allstars played the Valley Rollers. The Allstars were very much stuck in mid table but the Rollers were battling to avoid last place.
The result really hinged on ends 4 and 5 where the Rollers picked up 5 and 3 shots respectively to open a 6 shot lead. This lead was never relinquished as the Rollers ran out winners by 16 shots to 10 thus achieving the double over the Allstars.
Would this be enough to lift them off of the bottom?
More In Hope Than Expectation were on a run of four victories in a row with their last loss coming against today's opponents, The Chew Valley Misfits. The winner would also have a chance of the title with the loser likely relegated to third place.
Ultimately it was a defeat for a strangely out of sorts More In Hope team. It was all even up to the eighth end where the Misfits won three shots and never looked back winning by 12 shots to 8 in a fairly low scoring game.
Due to their inferior net shots The Misfits now needed the Flyers to lose their game to stand a chance of claiming the title.
The Flyers played the lowly Bowl Busters knowing that any sort of victory would probably be enough.
Heading into the eleventh end the Flyers were only ahead by two shots with each team winning five ends each.
The Flyers, however, flew away with the last five ends gaining 10 shots and winning the match overall by 17 shots to 5.
So the title goes to the Flyers, winning on net shots difference over the Chew Valley Misfits. With their defeat the Bowl Busters ended up collecting the wooden spoon for last place.
Congratulations to the Williams family, Trevor, Celia and great uncle Dave and cousin Little Neil. Also to Martin, John and Roger who made up the rest of the team.
Week 9 - Monday 28 July
The penultimate matches in the Monday Night League have now been played with three teams still in contention for the title and £100,000 prize money.
More In Hope Than Expectation needed a big win over the resurgent Bowl Busters to remain in the title race.
Both teams had a three match winning streak to defend with More In Hope ultimately getting the result they needed and winning by 25 shots to 7.
The Busters took an early lead over the first two ends but eventually only won five ends and even lost 6 shots on the seventh end.
In an unexpectedly close match the Flyers finally overcame the Valley Rollers by 13 shots to 12.
The Flyers only won six ends but this included 5 shots on the fifth end. By the thirteenth end the match was all square and all to play for but the Flyers managed to hang on for the victory.
This keeps the Flyers firmly in the hunt for the title.
Coming into the match the Chew Valley Misfits held a two point advantage over their rivals and would have been hoping to maintain this advantage by defeating Ali's Allstars, who were on a four game losing streak.
Ironically the Allstars last victory was against the Misfits and history repeated itself with the Allstars running out winners by 15 shots to 8.
This was a good comeback from the Allstars as they were trailing until the twelfth end and won the last seven ends to complete their victory.
So with the Misfits loss combined with More In Hope's and the Flyers wins these three sides are now equal on points at the top.
The Flyers sit top on net shots and almost have their destiny in their own hands. A decent win against the lowly Bowl Busters may be enough to give them the title.
The Misfits take on More In Hope with the losers having to settle for third place and the winners with a shot at the title.
Realistically the net shots difference may be too much for More In Hope to overcome but they would love a win against the Misfits to secure at least second place.
Week 8 - Monday 21 July
We're now getting to the "business end" of the Monday Night League with just two games left after this week.
For the first time this year the weather let us down with a heavy downpour just after games were started and this continued on and off for most of the evening.
To show how tough and committed we are the decision was made to reduce the games down to 10 ends and an early retreat to the bar.
Ali's Allstars took on the Bowl Busters in a middle of the table clash. As expected this was a close affair with the scores all level at 9 each after 9 ends. It was at this point that it was decided to reduce the number of ends down to ten so a final "winner takes all" end was played.
The Bowl Busters had just enough momentum to take 3 shots on the last end to run out winners by 12 shots to 9.
After losing their first five games the Busters have busted out of their losing cycle by winning their last three whilst the Allstars have lost their last four.
More In Hope Than Expectation were out for revenge against the Flyers after losing to them earlier in the season.
More In Hope steadily accumulated points and won on nine out of the ten ends to duly achieve their aim, running out surprisingly easy winners by 10 shots to 2.
This was More In Hope's third win in a row and a late surge to the title.
The final game saw the Chew Valley Misfits not living up to their name by beating the Valley Rollers by 15 shots to 1. This was a fairly routine win for the Misfits as they only lost one end and were pretty much in control all through the game.
This was a third loss in a row for the Rollers which now sees them propping up the table whilst the Misfits return to the top of the table.
With two games left the Misfits now sit two points clear of the faltering Flyers and the ever improving More In Hope, who are now starting to feel more expectation and needing less hope.
The title can now only be won by one of these three.
On paper the Flyers have a slightly easier run in but both the Flyers and More In Hope will be cheering on Ali's Allstar next week as they take on the Misfits.
The final week sees a a potential title deciding clash between the Misfits and More In Hope.
Meanwhile at the bottom of the table the Allstars, Bowl Busters and Valley Rollers will all be battling to avoid the wooden spoon and the inevitable humiliation and mickey taking that will follow.
Week 7 - Monday 14 July
After some decidedly one sided results in previous weeks, week 7 offered three fairly close games with one in particular going down to the wire.
Ali's Allstars took on the Flyers with the Allstars having lost their last two games and looking to reverse a worrying trend. It wasn't to be, however, as the Flyers came through winning 14 shots to 7. A relief to the flyers having lost their top of the table clash against the Misfits last week.
More In Hope Than Expectation played the Valley Rollers who were still reeling from a thrashing dished out by the Bowl Busters last week. This was almost a game of two halves as the Rollers were leading until the thirteenth end, which proved unlucky for them as they lost two shots to go behind for the first time in the match.
As late as the tenth end the Rollers were leading by 6 shots only to lose the last 5 ends by a total of 11 shots and ultimately the match.
A top versus bottom game saw the Bowl Busters record their second win in a row against top of the table Misfits.
The Bowl Busters seemed to be second best for most of the game but finally got their noses in front by recording 5 shots on end 13. The Misfits evened things up on end 14 but then lost the final end by 2 shots to suffer only their second defeat.
In terms of league positions the only change from last week sees the Flyers move back to the top of the table on net shots over Chew Valley Misfits.
With the fixtures still to be played this means that only the top four teams can still win the league.
BUT the Valley Rollers and Bowl Busters can still have a say in which team ultimately become champions.
Week 6 - Monday 7 July
After a two week break the world famous Monday League has now resumed with the return fixtures from the first half of the season.
Teams were either looking for revenge after being beaten in their first game or looking to do the double over their opponents.
A top of the table clash saw the Flyers, who are probably the form team, looking to avenge their only defeat against the Chew Valley Misfits.
An eagerly awaited contest proved to be surprisingly one sided as the Misfits dominated their opponents to win by 18 shots to 12 winning 10 ends in total. The result was only this close with the Flyers getting 6 shots on the penultimate end with the Misfits ultimately doing the double on the Flyers and moving back to the top of the table.
A mid table clash saw Ali's Allstars taking on More In Hope Than Expectation. The Allstars won the first match but were outplayed by More In Hope this time who ran out winners by 18 shots to 7.
The Allstars could have lost by more but were "saved" by their skip on more than one occasion.
At the bottom of the table the Valley Rollers took on the winless Bowl Busters who probably produced the performance of the day by winning 26 shots to 4 to break their duck.
After winning the first end the Rollers were never really in the game and only won three ends in total.
So Chew Valley Misfits are now back to the top of the table with More In Hope leapfrogging Ali's Allstars into third place
Week 5 - Monday 16 June
So the Monday Night League has now reached the half way stage with all teams now having played each other once.
Second placed Chew Valley Misfits took on More In Hope Than Expectation and ran out 22 - 11 winners. The game really hinged on two ends where the Misfits scored a 5 and a 7. Without those two lop sided ends the game was a very close affair.
A bit of an upset saw fifth placed Valley Rollers roll over third place Ali's Allstars to record their first win since the first game. The Rollers scored consistently throughout the match and ending up winning on 11 ends to record a 17 to 5 victory.
The final game saw a top versus bottom of the table clash between the Flyers and the Bowl Busters. This one went very much to form and expectation with the Flyers running out easy winners by 26 shots to 6. The Flyers won 10 ends including a 7 on end 5.
Week 4 - Monday 9 June
Week 4 of our Monday Night League saw some one sided results and a bit of an upset.
The bottom of the table clash between More In Hope Than Expectation and the Bowl Busters saw a win for the More In Hope team by 19 shots to 10. This really was a game of two halves as More In Hope shot into a 10 nil lead after 6 ends, which was just as well, as they then lost the next 9 ends by 10 shots to 9.
The Bowl Busters are still to record their first win whilst this victory moves More In Hope up to fourth place.
The form team at the moment are the Flyers who, after losing their first game, haven't looked back and have now recorded three one sided victories in a row to go top of the table.
This week their victims were the Valley Rollers who were rolled over by 25 shots to 8. Recording 6 shots on ends 6 and 12 certainly helped their cause. In a mirror image of the Flyer results, the Rollers have now lost their last three games after winning the first week.
The previously undefeated Chew Valley Misfits were finally beaten by Ali's Allstars in a surprisingly one sided game. The Allstars won 9 out of 15 ends, including picking up 5 shots on the eleventh end to win by 18 shots to 7.
So a three way tie on points at the top of the table sees the Flyers now in front by virtue of a positive 41 net shots. The Flyers, Misfits and Allstars have all won three games each
Next week will see the half way point when all teams will have played each other once. Top of the table Flyers will take on bottom placed Bowl Busters, with the Misfits playing More In Hope and Ali's Allstars taking on Valley Rollers.
Week 3 - Monday 2 June
Week 3 of our Monday Night League continued after a break for the Spring Bank Holiday.
What looks like some one sided results doesn't show the true nature of the competitiveness of the games.
Top of the table Chew Valley Misfits played the Valley Rollers and rolled them over to record a 100% record with three wins out of three. The Misfits took an early lead and never relinquished it as they ran out winners by 20 shots to 10. Winning by 6 shots on the sixth end certainly helped.
More In Hope Than Expectation bowled more in hope against the in form Flyers. Scores were close up until the eleventh end with just 2 shots in it but then the high flying Flyers pulled away to win by 10 shots.
Ali's Allstars got back to winning ways by defeating the still winless Bowl Busters by 12 shots, who never looked like busting their duck as the Allstars steadily accumulated shots and winning ends.
Next week's games sees a bottom of the table clash between More In Hope and the Bowl Busters. The Flyers take on the Valley Rollers and the Misfits will want to continue their winning start by taking on Ali's Allstars.
Week 2 - Monday 19 May
So week 2 of the Monday Night League saw a couple of lopsided results and a closely fought contest between More In Hope Than Expectation and the Valley Rollers.
Chew Valley Misfits have a 100% record by winning their first two games and take on the Valley Rollers in their next game.
The high flying Flyers, after a comprehensive victory this week, take on More In Hope Than Expectation for their next game.
The two bottom teams, Ali's Allstars and The Bowl Busters take on each other next with the Bowl Busters still to record their first win.
There will be a break next week due to the Spring Bank Holiday with week 3 of the league resuming on 2 June.
Monday night league rules and fixtures are below
