Baker’s pin sharp to clinch knockout title

Andy Clewlow (Engineers) needed 12 in the last leg to progress against John Hedges (Chris & Gerry Show).

Closest game in the round was between Mac Eaton (Alcester Nomads) and Andy Reynolds (Swan).

Reynolds, six pins up after leg one, found his lead whittled slowly away by Eaton to finish all square after leg five to set up a sudden death play-off which Reynolds won comfortably.

Other second round matches saw Baker (TeamBG) ease past Bob Haycock (Swan) 37-33.

Ian Greenway (Engineers) was an even more comfortable winner over Tim Jones (Lodge Farmers) 38-31.

The game between two players from Alcester Nomads ended with Alan Spreckley progressing 37-33 against Bob Browning.

And another Nomads player won a close game against Maurice Wroe (Engineers) 34-33.

Arthur Sears (Chris & Gerry Show), who in round one had defeated his son, found Ray Cartwright (Team BG) too strong and went out of the competition 38-27.

The quarter-finals saw a tight game, with never more than a single pin separating Andy Reynolds and Ray Cartwright.

Cartwright needed eight pins to go into the semi-finals, and made his target to win 32-31.

In another quarter-final, Maurice Wroe proved too hot for team mate Andy Clewlow and ran out the winner 40-33, while John Bool couldn’t maintain his previous round form and he too crashed out to a team-mate Ian Greenway 35 -29.

The last game in this round ended with a narrow win for Rob Baker who beat Alan Spreckley 33-30.

Cartwright’s luck ran out in his semi-final as Ian Greenway stretched away over the last three legs to win comfortably 38-28.

In the other semi-final,Wroe couldn’t find his quarter-final form and lost narrowly to Rob Baker 30-28 in a see-saw game.

The final saw Greenway take on Baker. The first three legs were keenly contested, and at that stage only only a pin separated the two.

But over the next two legs, Baker found his best form of the competition and went on to to beat Greenway 40-34 to lift the Champion’s Shield.