The Imps 345 Barbarians 366

The Imps chances of reaching the Grand Finals of the Blackthorn British Skittles Championships were dealt a severe blow when they were comprehensively beaten by Sturminster Newton side Barbarians on their own Gurkha Inn alley.

The Imps first hand got off to a poor start when Phil Slade hit 4 and that was followed by a 3 from Martin Murray, but a 14 stick up from Keith Wyatt meant the home managed a reasonable score of 57. Barbarians settled into the game straight away and were not fazed by the difficult alley, and A Broomfield hit a 13 stick up as the visitors hit 62 to lead by 5 pins.

The Dorchester side improved on the second hand and Martin Haime's 13 was the highlight of a 64 hand. But the away side had a great start to their hand when number one man P Court hit a 13, and the Stur side pinched 2 more pins with a 66 hand.

Over the next two hands The Imps could only muster two scores of 54 with a mixture of poor skittling and some unfortunate shots, while the Barbarians kept up their impressive start and beat both hands with scores of 61 and 56 to lead by 16 pins.

The Imps came back with a 60 on the fifth hand, and it looked like they may pull some pins back, but seventh man and captain Martin Rose hit a 14 stick up to help the visitors to 64 and a 20 pin lead.

Again the Imps were poor on the last hand, although anchor man Terry Gosney did finish the night with a 12 stick up, but Imps score of 56 was not enough to put any pressure on their opponents. Barbarians like they had done all night beat the Dorchester sides hand, and a 57 score means that the Barbarians go into the second leg 21 pins in front.

Top score for the Imps was Martin Haime with 50, while Martin Rose was top for Barbarians with 55.

The second leg takes place on Thursday August 5th.