Bowling madness

Having taken up once-a-week bowling since August, I have gone to BP Bowl with my friend Boon Aun every Wednesday.

I have already learnt some rudimentaries of executing the curve ball, which involves a change in hand position from leading with the thumb on the forward swing through a subtle change to the handshake on the release.

However, my best scores this year were achieved with the technique I have grown up with , the straight-as-an-arrow ball.

This year's high: 178.

Yesterday, our five games together went 134-88 , 91-93, 120-115, 147-141 and 100-76.
My total of 592 is,however, a huge 209 pinfalls away from my October 2003 personal best of 801 pinfalls for five games.

The second last game was particularly exciting, as Boon Aun ran to a 40-pinfall lead as he began with a double strike(XX) and followed with spares in the 3rd, 4th and 5th frame, already reaching a 100 at that point.


However, as his consistency faltered from then on, mine picked up, as I striked the 5th and spared the 6th frame. The 9th frame was a spare, and a double strike in the final 3 frames( XX8) ensured that I caught up and finally overcame a seemingly insurmountable lead to win 147 pinfalls to 141, a narrow margin of victory of only six pinfalls.