On Monday 21st June we swapped our snorkels and scuba gear for sore fingers and slippery shoes and headed to Banbury Lakeside Bowling for a few shandies and a couple of games of tenpin bowling. It must have been a good night because there was a bigger turnout than we usually see on a non-pool Monday evening, although the numbers were made up by a couple non-club members tagging along. The more the merrier I say.

The group was divided into two lanes. Yes that's right there were more than 5 of us there. The testosterone charged men in one lane and the not so testosterone charged men and the ladies in the second lane. There were an number of complaints of lack of alcohol to relax and calm the nerves by the men, but after a closely contended 1st round the men's team were victorious with a cumulative score of 552 to the mixed teams 535. The highest scorer and winner of the 1st round was Colin with 136 closely followed by Anoushka with 134.

With such inconsistent bowling by all the 2nd games was anybody's. Paula took an early lead but a couple of fluky double strike saw Steve take over 1st position. All those that showed promise in the 1st round had obviously run out of steam or the pressure was getting to them. Paula's consistent high scoring took closing frames to a nail biting finish. But with a second fluky double strike in the 10th frame Steve clinched victory of the 2nd game by 156 point to Paula's 143.

Unfortunately the rest of the men's team under performed and were dramatically beaten by 50 points 521 to the mixed teams 571. This meant that after a convincing win in the 1st round the male team managed to snatched failure from the jaws of victory and lost the match overall by 1073 point to 1106. Well done to the ladies and Rod and Stuart. I'm sure there will be a rematch.

The score table was as follows:

Game 1 winners: Colin 136, Anoushka 134, Male team 552
Game 2 winners: Steve 156, Paula 136, Mixed team 571

Overall Winners: Steve 257, Paula 245, Mixed team 1106