Ajit does Ten Pin Bowling

[Neil Pickup]

Or that's what you could have been forgiven for thinking if you'd have looked at the scoring screen after 5 rounds at the AMF Bowl in Lincoln on Thursday night. Here's a ball-by-ball breakdown of my first ten balls...

Ball 1: 0 - Left Hand Gutter
Ball 2: 0 - Left Hand Gutter
Ball 3: 0 - Left Hand Gutter
Ball 4: 0 - Left Hand Gutter
Ball 5: 0 - Left Hand Gutter
Ball 6: 0 - Left Hand Gutter
Ball 7: 0 - Left Hand Gutter
Ball 8: 0 - Left Hand Gutter
Ball 9: 0 - Left Hand Gutter
Ball 10: 0 - Right Hand Gutter

I was very surprised that I hadn't let off many, many four-letter expletives... and I was on the receiving end of more than one comment regarding the kiddy-bowler thingies that you line up the balls with. From Year 8s.

Finally I managed to hit the things with my 11th ball, and got 7. I ended the game with a massive score of 30, resoundingly last.

However (just so you don't think that I can't do anything competently) I recorded 1 strike and 4 spares in the next game to end with a PB of 126 to finish 2nd - and it was also far more than those smart-alecky Year 8s got (and they had the bumpers up...)

[Langeveldt]

Well I made a huge score when I first went bowling (without the gutters) and have been getting progressivly worse since!

[Rik]

Yup Neil, that sounds like an "Ajit" to me.

Oh well, I guess your just not a sportsman eh

[marc71178]

Analysing your performance, it's obvious that the 10th ball was key since it broke the pattern.

As regards scores, your 30 is pathetic - it's got a long way to bet my 14 when I was the only person of the group of us to have tried it before (and the rest got considerably more)

[luckyeddie]

Ah, smug mode.

I love Lincoln Bowl. I've won many bowling tournaments there - it's particularly friendly to lefties (like me and Sourav, although of course he bowls with his right hand). I won my first 'major' scratch tournament there 8 or 9 years ago - first prize was free entry into the British Open (didn't win that, though, although I did average over 200) plus some cash.

I'm going to be bowling again in around 2 months, I reckon, then maybe doing tournaments from about June. If all goes well, Neil, I'll let you know the next tournament I bowl at Lincoln and then maybe we can meet up and have a beer or two.

If you really want to spit about bowling, I've started posting details about my team (Rothley) on my website.

See www.luckyeddie.co.uk follow the Rothley link and look at the type of scores some of the top bowlers do get.

[Neil Pickup]

Not bad, I suppose...

[Bazza]

WOW! I'd love to bowl a 200 game one day. I think that is respectable. My best is 150, but if I was to go tomorrow I'm just as likely to score 80 as 140.

Did I read before that you had bowled a 300 game Eddie? How rare is that among 'proper' bowlers?

Looks like your team is very good!

[luckyeddie]

Originally posted by Bazza
WOW! I'd love to bowl a 200 game one day. I think that is respectable. My best is 150, but if I was to go tomorrow I'm just as likely to score 80 as 140.

Did I read before that you had bowled a 300 game Eddie? How rare is that among 'proper' bowlers?

Looks like your team is very good!

300 games are becoming much more common nowadays. As far as I know, Great Yarmouth are the only bowling centre in the UK of those regularly running tournaments who have never had a 300. One pal of mine has had 8, one (Dave Parker) is the only man in the UK ever to have had 2 'back-to-back'.

An American guy I know (Tim Mack) has had over 50, so I suppose they are now quite a bit more common than snooker 147's whereas 10 years ago they were a lot less common.

The main reasons for the improvement of scoring in recent years are threefold :

1. Better bowling equipment.
Bowling balls are being developed all the time, and each 'generation' of balls is usually better than the last. I used to buy a new ball every 2 or 3 months when I was bowling in tournaments just to keep up to date.

2. Better lane dressing/conditions
There's no better advertisement for a centre than for them to be able to say 'We have had X 300 games bowled in the last year'. This can lead to 'simple' blocked conditions where the oiling pattern assists the ball in ending up in the 'pocket', but in general it normally just leads to 'fairer' scoring conditions.

3. Better coaching
Years ago, a 'Pro Shop' in a bowling centre was a place where you'd go and buy a new ball, shoes, hand resin, that kind of stuff. The guy who ran the centre would sell you coaching, but there wasn't a standard method of teaching. You got 'his' method of bowling.
Nowadays, the pro shop proprietors themselves will have been on several intensive courses, either run by the British (substitute your country here) Tenpin Bowling Association or by someone like Dick Ritger - a USA 'Hall of Fame' bowler.
What you will get is good advice and you will be taught a good, sound technique - including how to nail those tricky spares.

Yes, I've had a 300 (4 years ago). Since then, I've hit 299 on 4 occasions.

[Paid The Umpire]

nice...

although i beat that by getting 170, wait a tick, that is lower than 300.

my mistake

[luckyeddie]

Originally posted by Paid The Umpire
nice...

although i beat that by getting 170, wait a tick, that is lower than 300.

my mistake

At the end of the day, it's a game - one to enjoy.

Most of you are aware that I've been injured for over a year now. Today, I had to go back to the hospital to talk to the surgeon regarding my progress since my op.

Can't say the news was great, but he did say that bowling isn't going to do any more damage, so I'm back in training - cycling, weights, trying to shed a couple of stone (bye bye pies) and building up the muscles around my knee.

The day I bowl again (I reckon 4 weeks) will be special - doesn't matter if I score a 200+ or just 150 - I'll be BOWLING.