Josh Ffrench & Stephen Gale took the 2 Bowl Pairs Championship last Sunday at the NSC after a fine display of bowling throughout the day.

The first round saw the six pairs split into two groups of three, with Ffrench & Gale coming up against defending champions Ann Hollingworth & Chris Holland in the first game. It was a close game throughout but eventually Ffrench & Gale came through 11-10 winners after scoring two on the final end. Hollingworth & Holland then lost by the same scoreline to Matt Quayle & Richard Faragher meaning the winner of the final game would progress to the final. Ffrench & Gale stretched into an impressive lead to leave Quayle & Faragher trailing at 10-1 but they fought back to only trail 10-8 going into the final end, however they weren’t able to complete an impressive comeback and Ffrench & Gale hung on to win 13-8.

The other group saw Archie & Wyn Collister claim an 11-4 win over 4 bowl Pairs champions David Cottier & Peter Coward. Cottier & Coward then lost their next game to Collin Holland & Seamus Whelan 13-7 meaning that the winner of the last game of the group would again progress to the final. Just like in the other group game, Holland & Whelan got a great start and led 10-1 but unfortunately for the Collister’s they couldn’t mount a fightback, eventually losing out 15-4.

The final, played over 15 ends saw Ffrench & Gale really step up their game with Josh Ffrench playing particularly well. The eventual champions dominated the first 8 ends and built an almost unassailable lead of 14-0. Holland & Whelan fought on valiantly but could do little to stop Ffrench & Gale who ran out 19-4 winners.

Next week is the final week of the Freeway Express Championship with Ronaldsway Rockets hoping to clinch the title as they face Castletown Rockets. Colby Cosmos face Ramsey Rebels in the other game of the day.