RYAN Marke and Shane Powell, of King Pins, have won Wellington Ex-Services Skittles League’s Harry Dowson Pairs on Finals Night at the Victoria Arms (downstairs).

The King Pins pair were involved in the first semi-final against Liam Desborough and Andy Chappel (All Stars).

It was a tense affair with the All Stars pairing leading for most of the way; they were five pins to the good going into the final hand; the King Pins duo needed something special to remain in the competition and the produced a stunning 25 hand aided in no little part by a splendid 17 spare from Shane Powell. This left the pair from All Stars requiring 21 to win which unfortunately for them they could not deliver and they fell six pins short after knocking a 14 hand. Scores: Marke, Powell 95, Desborough, Andy Chappel 89.

Alex Govier and Edd Chivers (Hot Shots) 98, Kevin Sedgebeer and Darren Sparks (Reservists) 83: The second semi-final saw a repeat of the previous season’s final, with the Hot Shots pair seeking to avenge their defeat.

The Reservists' duo can count themselves unlucky with the amount of balls that went through or just chopped out. However this is not to take anything from both Chivers and Govier.

Final: Marke, Powell 91, Govier, Chivers 86. Another spare from Shane Powell helped his side to victory in an extremely close and entertaining final. The game was nip and tuck all the way through, but it was ultimately Powell's spare that made the difference. All players found the alley to be unforgiving on the night.

This was the King Pins pairs first time of entering the competition and they emerged as worthy champions.

WESSL would like to thank Carl Wood for hosting the event, Daren Sparks for organising the competition and the sticker ups for their hard work.