STEVE Trevelyan, of Ex-Servicemen, has won Wellington Ex-Services Skittles League’s Cyril Hicks singles competition for the 2019-20 season for a fifth time, equalling Rob Higgs’ record number of wins.

The final rounds – with seven players – were played out at the Cottage Inn last Friday night.

Trevelyan got off to a flyer, hitting a 15-pin spare on his first hand. He was so cool on the night, going through to the next stage with a hand of 61. The other three players joining him were Andy Chappell 57, Craig Newstead 53, and John Goldsworthy, which meant Andy Kemp 44, Cameron White 42 and Paul Beer 32 went out.

The four players left after the break had to battle it out to reach the final. Newstead was in fine form but unfortunately slipped away towards the end, leaving Andy ‘The Legend’ Chappell, Trevelyan and Goldsworthy to fight it out.

Going through to the last hand, Chappell was looking good for the final. Goldsworthy needed a spare to knock out Trevelyan but just missed his chance.

The scores were Chappell 52, Trevelyan 49, Newstead 46 and Goldsworthy 44.

This meant Trevelyan and Chappell were the two in the big final showdown. After another tense break, the two players stepped back into the alley with Chappell going on first. Shockingly his first ball should have been a flopper but unfortunately the landlord rocked – not landlord Dave but the landlord pin stayed up. He then just missed it with his second ball for a spare which would have put pressure on Trevelyan if it had gone down.

After five hands, all was looking good for the new champion who was nine pins up at this stage. But from nowhere Chappell knocked a fabulous 14-pin spare just when he needed something big, leaving Trevelyan with five to win the final.

Trevelyan was always going to win it with his vast performances in the competition and finished with a neat hand of seven.

It was a great night again and a big think-you goes to all the players who took part in this stop-start competition. Hopefully, we’ll see you all again in February – also a huge thank-you and best wishes to all the pubs and clubs for holding the competition.

Darren Sparks