Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer

Rising to the big occasion, Rowe's Strikers from Chelsea Avenue crushed Dragon Strikers from Giltress Street 6-2 in the final to win the 2007 Wray and Nephew skittles club league at Mystix Sports Bar, Hagley Park Road, on Sunday night.

Prior to the final, Eastern All-Stars captain, Fitzroy 'Paul' Blair, defeated Meadowvale's Winston 'Wimpy' Lyew 2-0 in the Jamaica Electrical Technologies (JET)-sponsored men's singles final to walk away with the championship trophy and $50,000 cash prize.

Came from behind

Blair, who came from behind to beat the highly regarded Basil Kelly 2-1 in the semi-final, had previously won the title in 1996, while Lyew was contesting his third singles final in the past 10 years - losing them all.

However, Lyew did not walk away empty-handed, as he won the competition's Most Valuable Player award for being unbeaten in 12 matches for his club during the season.

Blair had this to say: "Both Kelly and Lyew are top-class players, but to me Kelly was the harder player to beat. After going through a tough semi-final against him I was a bit more relaxed against Lyew in the final for I knew that his nerves would get the better of him."

In the team final, Rowe's Strikers duly turned the tables on Dragon who had beaten them twice in the preliminary round of the competition.

Finding Sinkers

On a drifting table, finding 'sinkers' proved problematic for players of both teams, with Dragon players coming out worse.

As a result, Rowe's Strikers raced into a 5-0 lead when Karyl 'Chassy' Walker defeated the veteran Errol Wright convincingly.

However, Dragon avoided the embarrassment of a 6-0 defeat when Seymour Bennett beat Excel James in the sixth gameand teammate Cosmo 'Killer' Gardner outplayed Everton 'Slicer' McPherson in the seventh.

The end came when Winston 'Jubbie' Nevins defeated Victory Lowe to give his team the championship trophy and $80,000 cash prize.

Other winning players for Rowe's were Ravel Montague, Alphanso Stewart, Roy Facey and Donovan Ashman.

Other awards

The Wray and Nephew Trophy was presented to winning captain Garfield 'Milligram' Samuels by David Hobson, brand manager Wray & Nephew. In the play off for third place, Meadowvale beat House of Peace 6-1.

Other awards went to Zone 'A' winners Mystix (Veloz Edwards Memorial Trophy), Zone 'B' winners Meadowvale (Mystix Trophy), Dragon (Claudine Cohen runners-up trophy), Portmore's Meadowvale (Ernel Brown Trophy for third), House of Peace (Albert Parkinson Memorial Trophy for fourth) Meadowvale (Bejon's Trophy for most disciplined team), Karlene Wright of Walthan Strikers (JET Trophy for top ladies player), Fitzroy Blair (president's award), while a special award went to Rowe's veteran player Durrant Davis for his contribution to the sport.