The PTBC rolled into the Airport Bowl in early December for its annual finale and the last Team England Ranking event of 2004. With Team England Men's squad spaces still up for grabs, 63 men entered the tournament, but just 12 ladies bowled for a share of a disappointing prize fund. Whilst Damian Gray and Lisa Gardner were the tournament winners, Norman Hamed claimed the Men's High Game award with a 300 and Zara Glover claimed the Ladies' prize with a 289 game.
The qualifying round saw plenty of high scoring, to the extent that Lee Chatfield's 1204 found him languishing right down in 40th place and well away from the cut. Making their first appearances in PTBC tournaments were David Overall and Mark Frances, both of whom made impressive starts, scoring 1326 and 1352 respectively, with Mark sitting comfortably in 7th place after six games. Other strong performances in the first round came from Stephen Letchford (1376), Michael Ross (1377) and Nathan Clark (1406). Norman Hamed's 300 game helped push him up into 3rd place on 1412, nearly 40 pins behind second placed Rob Thurlby. Out in front by a good margin of more than 50 pins, and averaging 251 over the six games was Damian Gray on 1506, a lead he was to maintain for the rest of the day. The first cut fell at Nathan Whitaker on 1240, with PTBC regulars Richard Hood, Chris Buck and Keith Hodge amongst those bowling well but missing out on the semi-finals, despite averaging over 200.
Meanwhile in the Ladies' section, with everyone certain of a place in the semi-final, the focus was on getting off to as strong a start as possible. Young Sarah Overall, also making her PTBC debut, even found herself leading the field after the first squad had rolled off, albeit a field of just one bowler at that stage. Nevertheless, her 1229 after six games was enough to see her comfortably in sixth place going into the semi-final. Ahead of Sarah were Kirsten Penny (1255), Lisa Gardner (1271), and Lisa John (1279). Ladies' high gamer Zara Glover was in second place at this stage, with Jo Harries averaging 227 to lead the field on 1364. Pauline Buck was the only other lady bowler to be averaging over 200 after the first six games (1220). Her closest rivals, Nikki Woods and daughter Jemma Smith, were some distance behind with 1137 and 1116 respectively.
The men's semi-final saw Martin Ashton dropping down 18 places to end well out of contention for the final, despite continuing to average over 210. A rally by Jon Zadel saw him climb to 2172 over ten games, to end up six pins behind brother Ben, but both of them were a good 40 pins off the cut. David Overall continued to bowl well, still averaging over 220 and ending on a 259 game with a cumulative total of 2203, but still missing the cut by 15 pins. Making the cut with 2218 was Daniel Stride, just behind Norman Hamed who, alternating 214 games with a 189 and 190, slipped six places down the field. The biggest turn around in fortunes in this round was for Nathan Whitaker who started off his semi-final challenge with a 277 game and didn't drop below 236 during the four games. Whilst Rob Thurlby (2324) relinquished his second place at the start of the round, Wayne Greenall embarked on his challenge for the title, helped by a 290 and 267 game, and ending up with 2346. Stephen Letchford now occupied second place on 2384. Also making the final were Darren Cundy (2250), Mark Frances (2261) and Michael Ross (2295). However, still leading the field by a margin of 45 pins was Damian Gray with 2429.
Over the four games of the semi-final the ladies' standings remained remarkably static, with the same six bowlers leading the field as at the start, and five bowlers, although raising their averages, staying in exactly the same positions overall. Jemma Smith moved up two positions but, with 2012, remained in eighth place behind Pauline Buck whose 2048 over ten games missed the final cut by a mere five pins. Kirsten Penny and Sarah Overall hung on to their 5th and 6th places with 2059 and 2053 respectively. The remaining 4 women to make the final managed to neatly reverse their positions. Leader after the first round, Jo Harries, slipped to fourth place(2148), six pins behind Zara Glover who went down one place into 3rd on 2154. Lisa John moved up one place into second (2197), whilst Lisa Gardner jumped three spots to lead at the end of the semi final with 2295.
So we entered the final round with that rarity at PTBC events, not one member of the Buck/Smith clan fighting it out!
Nathan Whitaker continued to bowl consistently throughout the final, but was unlucky to only win one of his nine matches. With just one win bonus to his name he finished the day in 10th place on 4196. Stephen Letchford struggled to find form in the final, but was unlucky not to claim wins with two of his best games - a 246 and 225 - finishing ninth on 4338. With lower scratch totals, but the benefit of more win bonuses were Daniel Stride (4338, including 4 wins) and Norman Hamed (4367 and 5 wins). Mark Frances continued to impress, only once bowling a sub-200 game and winning all but 3 of his final games, he ended the day on 4452 to share joint fifth place with Darren Cundy. Darren won 4 matches outright, including a 278 against Rob Thurlby, and drew his second game with Wayne Greenall. In fourth place was recently elected PTBC Vice President, Rob Thurlby, winning five games and ending on 4460. Michael Ross, boosted by 6 win bonuses claimed the third place cheque with his final score of 4471. Powering his way through the round robin was Wayne Greenall, with a scratch average of 235 in his final 9 games, claiming 5 wins and one draw, he took second place with 4627. The day, however, belonged to Damian Gray. Winning five of his final nine games, he was one of the few bowlers who actually secured his position on the basis of scratch pinfall rather than win bonuses. He widened his lead over the field to over 100 pins (123 scratch, 108 including bonuses), and, helped by a 299 game, claimed the last title of the PTBC season on 4735.
The final also saw some of the highest ladies' scoring of the day, with only 4 scores below 200 across the round robin matches. Sarah Overall remained in sixth place, ending the day on 3164, having claimed two win bonuses along the way. The next four scores all remained tightly bunched up, with three bowlers each taking two win bonuses apiece. Jo Harries ended up in fifth place in 3334, with Zara Glover in fourth (3349) and Lisa John third on 3384. In second place was Kirsten Penny, and by the skin of her teeth. With a scratch score of 3270, her overall score was actually lower than her three closest rivals, but four win bonuses along the way was enough to push her up the field to end up with an total of 3390, just six pins in front of Lisa John. However, out in front by a long margin was Lisa Gardner who claimed three wins to finish the day as champion on 3504.
Congratulations to our winners Damian Gray and Lisa Gardner, and high gamers Zara Glover and Norman Hamed. Thanks go to Scott Sidley, Chris Buck and all the staff at the Airport Bowl for their help on the day. The PTBC's revamped 2005 schedule kicks off over the weekend of February 5th and 6th at Newbury.
To end on a personal note, the Airport tournament was my last as a member of the PTBC's organising committee, so this is also my last tournament report. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have helped to make our tournaments a success over the years, not least the managers and staff at the bowls we've used, Eric Hayton for his support and coverage of the events in Go Tenpin, and, of course, all the bowlers without whom there simply wouldn't have been any tournaments. Thanks also to our webmaster, John Peachey, who established our website five years ago and has worked tirelessly since to keep it up to date and get the results published within a day of tournaments taking place. I really can't finish without making a special mention of the contribution of the other committee members who also stood down after this event - Dave Maberley, Roger Willson and especially Alan Weall. Between them they've clocked up over 60 years service to the PTBC and tenpin bowling in this country. Enjoy your retirement gentlemen, you've certainly earned it.