Daily Winner - Iain McCorkindale

Report by Matt Miller.

Thursdays qualifying started with the new father, Iain McCorkindale destroying the pattern on his first entry. He shot a 2069 which jumped him into third place overall. He also had a 290 as his high game which is the highest game of the tournament so far.

I spoke with Iain after the squad and he told me that he was very happy with how he played. "I caught some bad pairs but ground out the scores and when I had a string of strikes going I finished with big games, I think my score will be enough to be seeded". Iain is a London Pro shop player and Seismic
staff bowler. Iain used his Solaris requiem and Raging bull charged for most of the block.

Also in the first squad, Graeme "sunnysideup" Wilson had a 277 game to pretty much lock up a finals place on Monday through the high game section of the tournament. Graeme used his Storm special Agent. Graeme doesn't bowl much these days which just goes to show how unique the format for the London International is. Get your entry in it's not too late! Wilson is looking forward to "tearing it up" on Monday with his son James watching.

Ricky Froldi made a 702 series which should be enough to qualify but it'll be tight. Ricky told me "I hope its enough to get me in but you never know. I'm coming back Sunday so i'll bowl another squad if I have to and then of course the desperado" Ricky used a Storm Reign.

Into the afternoon squad and there was some big names bowling, Guy Caminsky from South Africa, Steve and Matt Miller, Ray Teece, Alex Hamilton, Miles Corney and Matt Forsyth. Alex managed to have the front 7 strikes twice but didn't quite make a high enough game for qualification with his high being a
256.

I spoke with Guy and he told me "I really struggled that block, I didn't really have the right equipment and if I got the ball to the right it went straight and if I missed left it went sideways" Guys asked me to drill him a new ball tonight which will surely give him a strike fest tomorrow morning! Guy is an Ebonite distributor in South Africa so i'll be drilling him a Mission 250K.

I was the highest bowler in the squad, starting with a 258, 268 243 (771) then didn't really strike as much for the last 6 but I finished with 2068. Which gave me the daily runner up spot and should see me into the finals. I drilled the latest Roto Grip ball the new Critical Theory and it looked fantastic. The Critical Theory is available from The London Pro Shop. I'm happy with how I played in that squad but could have had a bit more. I'm now confident for the finals as i've got good ball reaction on the fresh and the burn.

Runner Up - Matt Miller

Daily Winner - Richard Teece

Wednesday saw the first of the midweek squads played, with a good number of entries across both squads.

Below a report from London Pro Shop's Matt Miller:

Richard Beck took the lead in the first squad today.......he used a Storm Marvel solid for most of the block and a Victory Road Pearl later in the block. Richard told me "the lanes felt tight downlane with carry down and not a lot of room to miss either right or left, i'm not that pleased with how I played but i'll be re entering". A very low scoring first squad compared to the weekend, this could be due to a few different factors but what I noticed was a very vast difference in styles across the centre. There were straighter players using surface, straighter players using polish, higher rev players playing deep and higher rev players playing straighter outside angles. All these variances result in the lanes not developing the same way as the other squads did.

Into the second squad it was London Pro Shops Richie Teece who STORMed the show!!! Using his Marvel solid and Victory Road pearl (see a common recurrence here) took the number one spot in qualifying with a fantastic score. Richie told me "I played very well and made all the right moves, I learnt a lot from the first squad and made the right adjustments as and when I needed to". Fantastic bowling today Richie.

A special mention to London Pro Shop young gun Glen Richardson who had the front 9 and just missed out on the daily runner up spot by 2pins. We all thought he would take the £100 sponsored prize by Sublime Designs. In the tenth frame he went a little high and left a 6 pin. Glen was using his Storm Virtual Gravity. Also London Pro Shop player Adam Purnell bowled a great 277 to make the daily runner up spot. Adam used his Brunswick team England sponsored C-System Alpha Max for most of the block.

Finally on to London Pro Shops Irina Timosenkova who had the front 8 with her 300 ball (a few weeks ago in league) the Brunswick Karma Pearl. Irina finished with a 268 (273 with bonus) which should see Irina into the finals on Monday.

Play continues Thursday, with another two squads and another international entrant in the form of South Africa's Guy Caminsky.

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Current results can be found on our results page

Runner Up - Adam Purnell