January 28, 2008:          Andy James and Alex Hamilton, the organizers of the PTBC (Premier Tenpin Bowling Club) English Open, announced today that they have joined hands with Ebonite International to become the name sponsor of the 2008 English Open.  The Ebonite English Open will be held at Lakeside Superbowl in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England from December 3 through 7, 2008.

For years, the British Open, was one of the most well organized and well attended events in European Bowling.  Upon its demise several years ago, Andy, Alex, and a group of concerned players and proprietors met to organize a replacement event.  The English Open was first held in 2006 under the sanction of the BTBA.  However, their stated goal from the very start was to become a Major event on the European Bowling Tour.  This goal was accomplished in 2007 as The English Open became an EBT sanctioned Challenger event.

The EBT is a sanctioning body that sets and maintains standards for a group of scratch singles tournaments held throughout Europe.  The 2008 schedule is comprised of 18 events to be held in most major European bowling countries to include Finland, France, Italy, Holland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Catalonia, Turkey, Belgium, Slovenia, Austria, and England.  The 2008 tour also includes its newest and largest event, the Qatar International Open.

Andy and Alex said that they had been looking for a partner in the English Open that brought high visibility, stability, and promotional abilities.  It was decided that Ebonite fit the bill.  “We are looking forward to working with Ebonite and their marketing staff to insure that the English Open continues to grow in stature and prize fund.  Our goal now is to achieve Major status with the EBT.  With the help of Ebonite, we feel that this goal is within range.”

For their part, Ebonite’s Mike Quitter said that, “Andy and Alex have been two of the stalwarts in bowling on the European scene for many years.  They have done wonders for this tournament in the short two years of its existence.  We are hoping to help to make the 2008 event one to be remembered and to work with the committee on achieving their goals.”

Nineteen year old Matt Chamberlain of Dorset won his way through a field of 12 of the best UK bowlers to earn the PTBC Tour 2008 Masters title, and the prestigious award of a spot on Matchroom Sports TV show, the World Tenpin Masters being held later this year.

The PTBC Tour 2008 Masters is an annual invitation event run by the PTBC at the end of each season. The top 12 points earners are invited to compete in a 12 game round-robin, the last round of which is a position round. 30 pins are awarded for a win, and 15 pins for a draw. This year presented a concern as to whether bowlers would be physically able to get to the venue due to the exceptional weather conditions seen throughout the prior week. Luckily things cleared up for the weekend, and all 12 of the invitees were on the lanes and ready to bowl ahead of schedule.

We were fortunate enough to be given a very kind donation from B&P Fabrications, which helped boost the prize fund for the participants, the winner receiving a spot in the World Tenpin Masters thanks to Matchroom Sports.

So onto the bowling, and after ten minutes of practice the first matches were underway, Nick Froggatt taking the early lead with the highest game of the round,  237 against Adam Scott, whose 175 was the lowest game of the round. Excitement came in round 4, when Matt Chamberlain who started out with the first ten strikes, eventually being denied a 300 due to a nine count on the 11th ball and ending on a 289.

The positions at the top of the table were changing with each game, right up until the last few games, when breakaways Darren Cundy and Matt Chamberlain were steadily in 1st and 2nd. The penultimate game saw the start of a big fight for first by Cundy, shooting the tournaments high game of 299. A flush shot into the pocket on the 12th ball leaving a stone 9-pin, and a perplexed Darren Cundy. Even with this brave effort, Cundy still only gained 30 pins on Chamberlain who threw a 266 and a 30 pin win bonus.

The position round then saw these two bowlers come together to face off and battle it out for number one. Chamberlain having a huge advantage of 109 pins, though effectively with a win against Chamberlain the difference in Cundys eyes would be 79 pins, no easy achievement over the tournament leader who just threw a 266 game! Cundy showed his talent and fighting spirit however and clawed his way through the game ending on a 278 to Chamberlains 205. The effective gain was not enough however to capture top spot from the 19 year old and Chamberlain walked away with the title and TV spot by a 41 pin lead having averaged 231 over the 12 games. Interestingly Cundy out-averaged Chamberlain by 1.6 pins p/game but Chamberlains extra win gave him the edge.

We are thankful to AMF Ilkeston and Barry Joyce for hosting the event and providing us with a great venue once again. Talk Tenpin were also reporting live on-site with the team of Dom Gall and John Egan.

We are pleased to announce that the B&P Fabrications Bruce Ford Memorial Doubles will take place at AMF Ilkeston on the 23rd and 24th June.

The PTBC Bruce Ford Memorial Doubles is being held at AMF Ilkeston on 23rd and 24th June. Sponsored by B+P Fabrications with a Masters section sponsored by UKtenpin.com, the tournament consists of 4 games qualifying with re-entries allowed. The entry fee is £40 per team and there is an expected priizefund of £2400 based on 60 entries in each division. Bowlers with a combined average of 380 or less may enter the '380 Handicap' division. Handicap will be 100% of the difference between the bowlers entering average and 220. The top eight individual bowlers from each division will qualify for the UKtenpin.com Masters final. The Scratch final will take preference for any bowler who may finish in the top eight in both divisions. The UKtenpin.com Masters will be a seven game round robin with a position round game to finish. Scores will revert to zero with bowlers in the Handicap final receiving their handicap throughout. There will be a 30 pins bonus for a win and 15 pins for a draw. The bowler with the highest pinfall including any bonus will be declared champion.

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The first match of the second day of the PartyPoker.net World Tenpin Masters saw two debutants in action. Darren Cundy of England, the only player who qualified for the competition by winning the PTBC Masters, was up against Badr Al Sheikh of Saudi Arabia. The winner of this match would be up against Australian Jason Belmonte in the second quarter-final on Sunday afternoon. Once again the World Tenpin Masters had proved extremely popular and in the audience were four people who had travelled over from Hungary especially for the competition. On the first day there had not been many close matches but after the first of the two games the score stood at 218-217 in Al Sheikh's favour.

Both players threw three strikes in a row at the start of the second game in what was becoming a classic encounter where one mistake could prove critical. In the fifth frame Al Sheikh left an opportunity as he only registered a spare and Cundy's subsequent strike put him in front. However, Cundy then produced a shot similar to Al Sheikh's as the match became close again. When Cundy only hit a spare that was not enough as Al Sheikh hit a superb 274 in the second game to seal a 492-472 win. "It was my first match and every ball counted," said Al Sheikh. "It's difficult when you have to strike every shot and difficult when the line changes so fast." Cundy added: "I would've taken 472 before I bowled, but he played well - we both did. It went all the way to the tenth frame of the second game. I've enjoyed it. It's a very different environment to what we normally play in and it was very hot." Cundy was the highest scoring first round loser of the competition, taking home $1000 USD. Story courteousy of www.worldtenpinmasters.com - Photo Lawrence Lustig

The culmination of the 2006 Premier Tenpin Bowling Club (PTBC) tour season, the PTBC Masters, saw the top 12 ranked players contesting a twelve-game round robin at the friendly AMF Ilkeston Bowl, Sunday January 14. Unfortunately, Phil Scammell of Hove was unable to take his place due to health problems and lower ranked Wayne Greenall from Sheffield was able to get to the center in time to fill the gap. The matches were dominated by local player Darren Cundy and London’s Steve Thornton and over the twelve games, with 30 bonus points for a win, it came down to just five points to Cundy’s advantage when the audit was finished. The prestigious prize for the Masters’ winner was a guaranteed place in the upcoming Matchroom Sports’ World Tenpin Masters and Darren Cundy is looking forward to taking his place alongside the international stars in April.

“I suppose I had a slight advantage, playing in my home center,” commented the 30-year-old self-employed plasterer. “The place in the Word Tenpin Masters was certainly a great attraction to win today. I have been to see the event previously so I know I will have to adopt strict tunnel vision to avoid all the distractions of the crowd and the television cameras. Anyway, I do have a good mental game and I always play the lanes rather than my opponent.” Cundy won nine of the twelve games, Thornton ten with also one draw. Sympathies to young Jemma Smith who, without any ladies’ bonus, lost all her matches. The tournament was the first event in the UK to use the new Brunswick Authority 22 lane conditioning machine and the set pattern was the PBA Scorpion. Both earned the approval of organizers and competitors alike. High definition cameras were operated by Andy James and Dominic Gall for the production of a dvd of the tournament, another ‘first’. (Photo: Darren Cundy, left, being congratulated on behalf of Matchroom Sports by TV Commentator Cass Edwards) (Report courtesy of World Bowling Writers Newsletter-Plus)

Stuart Williams wins the PTBC Tours first stop in 2006 at the Legends Challenge in Bromborough. Full report now available read more...

The Premier Tenpin Bowling Club has now entered a new era in its long and illustrious history. Alan Weall, Roger Wilson, Dave Maberly and Steve Peachey have hung up their PTBC boots and called it a day after 25 years.

I would like to personally extend my thanks on behalf of all the bowlers to Alan and the rest of the committee for a job well done. This years tour is actually the 30th Anniversary and I'm informed that if it were not for Alan and his team, the scratch bowling in England would not be what it is today!

Enough of the past... onto the FUTURE!
I would like to introduce the newly elected committee:-

President - Steve Thornton
Vice President - Rob Thurlby
Secretary - Andy James
Treasurer - Alex Hamilton

Andy and I will be the new face of the PTBC, managing, running and scoring the events with Rob and Steve overseeing our work!

Our Aim...
To help modernise and revitalise Scratch bowling in England.

We have had our first committee meeting/brain storming session and the following ideas and points have come from it. Alot of the points have not been finalised, but we shall update everyone as soon as they are.

It was decided to run 6 events over the year, culminating in a Master (7th event) to be held in January of the following year. Our schedule and formats for next year are as follows:

Event 1 - Newbury, Feb 5th/6th
This shall be our first Team England Ranking Event and as a tribute to years gone by, we shall run this event 'le classic' PTBC style. 6 games qualifying, 4 games cut, Top 10 Men, 6 Ladies Round Robin Final

Event 2 - Croydon, May 7th/8th
This event will also be Team England Ranking and will be run as one divison, Men and Ladies combined, Ladies receiving 7-pin bonus throughout. 8 games qualifying, cut to top 32. The finals shall be Matchplay, Best of 5, 8 winners will progress to play seeds 4 & 5. The winner will then face 3rd seed, Winner will play 2nd seed. The winner of that match will then play the 1st seed for the title.

Event 3 - Dunstable, June (TBC)
This will be our first NON-Ranking event of our calendar. The date and format of this event has not been finalised at this time, we shall advise everyone as soon as they are!

Event 4 - Ilkeston, September 18th
Our second NON-Ranking event some might recognise as the Bruce Ford Memorial.
Qualifying will be in one division (ladies receiving 5-pins bonus), over 6 games in two blocks of three, each on a different pattern: i.e. Pattern 1 - A squad 3 games, B Squad 3 games. Dress Pattern 2, B Squad 3 games, A Squad 3 games. Top 32 will play 6 games, scores carrying forward.
Scores to zero, Top 8 Round Robin.

Event 5 - Tolworth, October 22nd/23rd
Our third Team England Ranking event of the season will be 8 games qualifying, all bowlers in one division (ladies receiving 5-pins bonus throughout). The top 48 shall cut for a further 4 games, followed by a Top 10 Round Robin, scores carrying all the way through.

Event 6 - Airport, December 3rd/4th
The finale to our tour and the Team England Rankings will be 6 games qualifying at trios pace, one squad (except overflow if required). All bowlers shall be in one division, ladies 5 pins bonus.
Cut to top 48 bowlers who will play another 6 games. The top 8 will then cut to a Best of Three Matchplay Final, 1 v 8, 2 v 7, etc, The 4 winners will play Best of three. The two Grand Finalists will then play Best of three to decide the champion.

Event 7 - Masters, January 2006 (TBC)
The date and venue of our Masters Final is not confirmed at this time, but it will consist of 16 bowlers. Seven Event Winners will automatically qualify, along with an additional 9 bowlers taken from the newly introduced PTBC Tour Points Standings. Points will be awarded for each event. The fine details of the point allocations are at present not finalised. £2 from each entry to each event will go towards the Masters, generating roughly £1,000 towards lineage and prize fund.

We will be re-introducing the yearly Membership from our Croydon event onwards. Yearly membership £20 and will run from event of sign-up, and expire prior to the same event the following year. Daily Membership will be £10 and will only be valid for one event.

The money from membership shall go towards the running costs and the Masters Final.

Mr James shall be re-vamping www.ptbc.co.uk due for the grand un-veiling in January.
He is currently working on an online registration form, hopefully with the ability to take secure on-line payments for events as well.

The website will have all the usual scores, with Rob Thurlby doing an event report for the site and Go Tenpin.

As part of our modernisation, we feel that it is extremely important to bring the clubs accounts out of the shadows. Therefore, for each event run, a clear poster will be on display showing where every penny from each event has gone.

We shall be getting an independant person (trying to twist Phil Scammell's arm) to certify that our accounts are a true and accurate record.

The new committee is, at present in negotiations with various parties to try and find sponsors for each event to help increase prize funds and allow there to be a good sized Masters prize fund.

If anyone has any questions about the NEW PTBC Tour or if there is anyone reading this interested in promoting their business and helping to better the Tour with a sponsorship offer, please email me on alex@powerplayproshop.com or call me on 07720 292 474.