The weekend of the 4th and 5th of February saw the PTBC’s first event of 2006, which was held at the newly refurbished and extended “The Bowl”, in Bromborough.

What was originally a 12 lane centre, has now been turned into a very impressive 24 lane centre by local bowlers Stuart Jaap and John Fowles.

The format was a mixed event, consisting of an eight game qualifier upon which Team England ranking points would be earnt, followed by a “best-of-three” matchplay final. Ladies received a 7 pin per game bonus throughout the tournament.

The small Saturday squad was ably run by Jon Zadel and Matt Giles, with a little help from Dom Barrett who all stepped in to help out when I was unable to guarantee being their due to work commitments. The lane pattern set by Team England was a familiar short pattern that had been used for our last event of 2005 at the Airport. The Brunswick synthetics at Bromborough however certainly highlighted how short this pattern really is, with bowlers having to work and think about how and where to play the lane. Richard Beck led the way on Saturday, after changing balls midway through the first game to a low reactive and by keeping his hand behind the ball he proceeded to shoot 101 over with only two of his games being under 200.

Sunday’s squad got off to an almost on time start, with the field of bowlers having heard of the short pattern from the previous squads bowlers they seemed a little more prepared if not physically then at least mentally. Gary Baker was the quickest off the blocks with a 232 to start his 8 game run, though Lee Burrows and Nick Froggatt weren’t too far behind with mid 220’s. 2005’s top English ranked male Dom Barrett was in need of pulling something out of the bag however with a 149 to start the day. This didn’t deter the World Tenpin Masters 2006 invitee though, as we shall see later!

Nick Froggatt continued his good start right through to the end of qualifying with only one sub 200 game, ending up on 1743 for eight and taking maximum TE ranking points due to the rankings being based on the first eight games only. Did I mention it would be worth keeping an eye on Dom B ? OK good, well after his 149 start, he must have had a bit of a think as he ended up 2nd to Froggatt, shooting 966 for his last four games and totting up a 1715 total.

After the eight game qualifiers, the field was cut to the top 32, who would then play a “best-of-three” macthplay bracket, until we ended up with a champion. The cut for the top 32 was a tie between Matt Giles and Dan French, Dan losing out on his place due to having the lowest game.

In the Round of 32, things started with a shock! Number 1 seed Froggatt lost to 32nd seed Matt Giles, with “G” shooting a 702 series and earning 2 points to Froggatt’s 1. Coincidentally 2nd seed Dom Barrett also lot to 31st seed Mike Quarry, 2-1.

The Round of 8 saw Mark Smith, Stuart Williams, Jon Zadel and Lee Chatfield through to the next round, with the most noteworthy match being between Stuart Williams and Donna Adams. Donna won the first game 218 to 193, with Williams coming from behind with games of 279 and 236 for a 708 series and a 2-1 win.

Semi Finals now, and Mark Smith against Stuart Williams. Mark winning the first game 233-197, again Williams being spurred on and taking the next two for yet another 2-1 victory. Jon Zadel and Lee Chatfield meanwhile were amid there own battle with Zadel opening up the match with a 233-197 win against Chatfield. Game two went to the 10th frame, with Chatfield throwing a turkey to win game two. Zadel started well in the third game, but Chatfield stayed close and eventually passed to earn a place in the final against Williams.

The finals started around 6.15pm (ahead of schedule), and with a fairly decent crowd, all getting a good view of the action from the raised section at the back of the lanes. Stuart Williams bowled well, and looked solid throughout, shooting games of 243 and 216 against Lee Chatfield’s 182 and 186. Williams successfully claimed victory in his first PTBC event since the “new management” and with formats being somewhat similar to those found in Europe perhaps we’ll see more of him in future events.

All in all, I would like to take the time to thank those that helped out during the tournament. Dom Barrett, Matt Giles and Jon Zadel were invaluable throughout the whole weekend and the same can be said for the entire staff of “The Bowl”. With John Fowles being on duty throughout and keeping a close eye on the lanes, reporting the very occasional re-spot. Stuart and Trevor also for being “on the ball” throughout and presenting us with a top notch bowling centre for the weekend.