Final Session

The last session of the 2010 PartyCasino.com Weber Cup opens with one Baker team match followed by five

singles matches, should they be needed.

The Europeans need just three points to clinch victory, the Americans seven, so for the cup to return to American shores the session will need to go into overtime, bringing back memories of the 2008 event which ran into the small hours of Monday morning.

(Photo courtesy Paul Natzyl)

The Europeans certainly took their time to stumble over the winnng line, but once again it was local guy and sole left-hander Paul Moor who clinched that vital point, proudly against Pete Weber, son of Dick, in memory of who the annual tournament is dedicated.

When Europe won the opening match of the evening, the Baker team, it looked as though they were back on a roll and that the Americans were going to take an early bath, but Chris Barnes put that thought of of minds by

beating Mika Koivuniemi in the first singles match, 227-221.

Then the agony was dispelled when Paul Moor came into the limelight by beating Pete Weber, 230-210, to bring the points total up to 16, leaving just one more hurdle to cross. That hurdle was made a smidgen higher the next match when Tommy Jones kept the ball rolling with a 238-181 win over Dominic Barrett.

A re-match for Koivuniemi against Barnes saw an exciting match with both players enjoying strings of strikes, but it ended in the Americans favor once again with Barnes shooting 267 to Koivuniemi's 256.

Just how much longer could the Americans hold off the Europeans? Well, as it turned out no longer. The issue was settled with Moor ousting Weber in very convinving style, 265-190.

That means that the Americans now have an overall lead of 6-5 over the eleven years.

Highly pleased with his team's victory, Osku Palermaa commented: ""This is certainly a good feeling. I didn't do what I was supposed to do all week, but we got there and it turned out to be a good show. Tonight I didn't want to go on the lanes any more after the Baker, I felt it was ours."
Tim Mack was more forthcoming: "We did the best we could. Paul Moor was great in that last match but you can't give a team a seven-point advantage at any time in any event, with the class of the Europeans you just can't do it. It is a credit to just how good our guys are, they battled back. Osku and I sat back and let the teams battle with one another. We didn't play any (singles) matches and I felt that if we could get by the Paul Moor/Pete Weber match and then I took on Osku, we really could have made it interesting.

"I knew the guys were going to fight to the last ball and I'm so proud of how they bowled. However, in the end it was too many unforced errors collectively as a team. I don't think we've missed that many spares in the past five Weber Cups. I think that was our doing where we just made too many mistakes as a team."

Was it a good tournament? Oh yea! Arguably the best in the eleven year history of the event. It started out on Friday evening with a fantastic opening session that was thought to be the cream of the event, but it turned out that each session topped the last and the packed audience at the Brnsley Metrodome was treated to a genuine masterclass of tenpin bowling of such magnitude that may never be repeated, it was just that good.

Congratulations to both teams, to Matchroom Sport for a superb production and for all concerned with the organization and production.

The whole 30 matches will be screened by Sky Sports world-wide through the new year, so please, please watch your schedules and enjoy the best bowling for TV you could possibly wish for.

(Photo courtesy of Dominic Gall, talktenpin.net)

POINTS:

Match 1: Baker team

Match 2: Singles

Match 3: Singles

Match 4: Singles

Match 5: Singles

Match 6: Singles