Ultimate Triples Series 2020 Episode 4
One Week to go and it is definitely all up for grabs with every team in with a chance, although it does take a stretch of the imagination to conceive of Black Sabbath taking the honours as they sit on the bottom of the table 5 points behind the leaders, but two qualify for the knockout stages so you never know!
Match 1 - King Crimson v Black Sabbath:
A deeply disappointing evening for the table topping Black Sabbath who were soundly beaten by bottom of the table King Crimson losing the first set by 14 shots to 11 and the second by 12-4. For the Sabbath it has to be said that by his own admission and despite performing so well last week Eric Munden was abject. As you all know I try not to be too critical in this report and I know that at present Eric has other things on his mind as he is understood to be currently working on his autobiography apparently to be entitled "The fat and the furious".
Eric’s performance aside the real villains of the piece were Alan Bliss and Graham Cox who do not seem to have taken on the concept of the power play. Apparently, Alan Bliss who as skip should provide leadership and decide when to play this potential match winning gambit passed the responsibility to Graham Cox who ignored the big man’s wishes and as a result lost 4 points for their team which would have doubled up to eight! The Crimson, well led by Deric Pritchard and supported by Geoff Shand and Barry Wellman had, following my comments of last week, apparently been practising their tie-break skills all week just in case. They then successfully called a power play and scored 4 doubling to 8 which sealed the first set.
Finally following last week’s report Alan Bliss has correctly pointed out that he is not in fact the Captain of Black Sabbath, this honour belongs to Mr Cox. Also Alan’s meat pie last week was very, very, nice!.
Match 2 - Moody Blues v Pink Floyd:
Second placed Moody Blues found the going tough against lowly Pink Floyd but eventually took 4 points after winning the first set 11-8 losing the second 6-13 and managing to win the tie break.
The Blues made it hard for themselves by dropping 6 shots on the very first end but came storming back well, helped by picking up a 4 on the last end. Barry Stone was in good form supported by Martin Goss and Alan Gamblin.
The ‘Begonia King’ Tony Jennings was outstanding for the Floyd and was instrumental in their second set triumph whilst Mike Baron and Mike Oliver also played well.
Match 3 - Deep Purple v Simply Red:
The two non-competitive skips Bob Harris and Jim Garner kept their supporters hanging on almost into the early hours of the morning as they contested a fierce clash with no quarter given.
Bob's Simply Red eventually (and I do mean eventually) took the lion’s share of the spoils winning one set and the tie-break. he first set went suprisingly comfortably to Deep Purple by 12 shots to 6 and it was only when the wily Harris played the old trick of bringing the mat up that the tables turned with the Reds winning the second set 9-5.
It was at this point that Peter Smith was seen sitting forlorn and alone on the bench with his head in his hands, he was also unfortunate in his haste to get to the mat of tripping and falling unceremoniously on to his backside.
The few spectators left witnessed something of a classic in the tie-break with shot woods being exchanged on a regular basis. Peter Smith having recovered from his tumble put his first wood right on the Jack only to be knocked off by Trevor Anderson for the Reds who in turn was knocked off by his team mate Roy Traylor who immediately redeemed himself by putting his next wood right on the jack. This was the shot that probably turned the tide although Bob Harris made sure with his final wood.
The teams lined up with Jim Garner, Mike Everett and Peter Smith for Deep Purple and Bob Harris, Roy Traylor and Trevor Anderson for Simply Red. This was probably the game of the night a mixture of elation and disappointment.
That’s it for this week, see you all next week.
Your roving reporter Alan Gamblin
