Not much interest in the last set of matches, hopefully a bit more this time around.
Division one
The match of real interest here was the battle between the non-Captains - Camps vs. Reddlapalli, which would decide who would progress with Gough to the next round.
This prompted a rearrangement of the draw, rescheduling the key game for the evening session. This saw Gough kicking off in the early game against the luckless Gray in an expected walk over.
From the start of the tie, Gough appeared to lack interest in the game, spending a significant time reorganising the Fardingham cricket team photographs from seasons past on the wall into a chronological order. Meanwhile, Gray was garnering double-points by cleaning both his own, and Gough's bar of spillages and stains. Gray also wowed the crowd in his final BarStar appearance of the year by shaking his groove with each ****tail mixed, showing exceptional co-ordination and a definate improvement in skill over the course of the tournament. Gray eventually romped home by nearly 50 points, with Gough having preserved his energy for the upcoming semi-final.
If the first match of the day was relaxed, then the second was played under immense pressure. Reddlapalli upped the pressure on Camps early on by intentially knocking a glass of orange juice over Camps' bar just prior to taking up his position. This earned Reddlapalli a torrent of abuse from Camps, as well as a five minute penalty from the referee. The spillage cost Camps a significant amount of time, however, as the orange juice quickly became sticky and congealed over the bar surface. The match was to continue in a similar vein, with Camps receiving a penalty for stuffing a toffee in the coin slot of Reddlapalli's pool table.
Following the completion of his five minute penalty, Reddlapalli served like a man possessed, coupling drinks pouring with some fine anecdotes - a particularly interesting one involving Dick Cheney, some cough medicine and a tazer. He rapidly surged into a lead, whilst Camps' attempted subterfuge failed as he was caught trying to swap the hoses for the lemonade and coca-cola. Reddlapalli emerged at the final whistle victorious by 170 points, giving him a large enough margin to top the division one table. Camps making a disappointed early exit, and both players with an appointment with the BarStar disciplinary tribunal.
Division Two
The early match in Division Two saw Kingsley Clapham looking to show a massive improvement against the in-form Thomas. Sadly for Clapham, although he'd improved his game, his lack of focus on drinks serving again cost him in the overall match. Whilst Clapham cleaned, chatted and obtained phone numbers, Thomas focused on the drinks - serving a decent range of beer, wine, ****tails and spirits. Little interest was shown from Clapham as Thomas built up a handy lead. The eventual result saw Thomas home by 180 points. Clapham didn't go home completely disappointed as he not only successfully obtained a few phone numbers from some female punters, but was seen heading to the Fardingham Motel with a blonde female cricket fan from Queensland who was over in CW Land to watch Andy Bichel and to earn some money as a fruit picker in the vine yards of Davistow.
The second match in division two was now key. Thomas had secured a decent margin over Clapham which now meant that Boon had to defeat Davis in order to progress. If Davis were to win, then given the points differential then Davis would progress with Thomas. As the players entered the arena, it was clear from the first stumbling footsteps that Boon was already considerably drunk. This continued into the first exchanges of the game as Boon proceeded to operate a "one for you, one for me" bar policy. Whilst this scored him a significant number of early points, it meant a dulling of the reactions was seen over the course of the tie. In contrast, Davis appeared focused, continuing the form shown in his record-breaking victory over Clapham in the previous tie.
With an hour left in the match, the scores were level but the drink was starting to take its toll on Boon, who was unable to see the identification of the punters when he asked for it. This saw him serve a spate of underage punters, including the jar of pickled eggs donated by the local fish and chip shop to feed the hungry punters. Davis eased away as the points penalties for Boon racked up. Davis emerging the eventual winner by over a hundred points, and sending the pre-tournament favourite crashing out.