THE final day of the Castle Sports Classic takes place on Saturday with play commencing at 4pm, writes David O’Brien.

Sixteen top-class players will fight it out for the £1000 first prize.

The draw for the final day has thrown up some intriguing games in the first round.

First game on the green will see Dave Phillips take on the developing talent of Owen Cookson of Wharton Cons. Owen is a product of the Cheshire junior squad and he is certainly serving his apprenticeship on the open competition circuit entering as many competitions as he can to build his experience.

Second up is a game between the recent pairs champion on the green Dave McDermott and Kris Fearnley from Wales. Dave is a regular visitor to David Street and will be looking to use his extensive green knowledge to progress to the second round.

The third game sees a match-up between another Welsh raider Danny Prosser and ex-Castle player Dave Jackson. Danny came through a tough qualifying session when he defeated Lee Johnstone, Lee Dale and Tom Vickers.

The final game of the top half of the draw pits Ashleigh Woof against Mark Ball. Ashleigh is a former runner-up in the competition while Mark has lots of knowledge of the green having played for many years in the Mid Cheshire League before recently moving to Llandudno.

In the bottom half of the draw another Wharton Cons youngster, Jack Bushell, faces a tough draw against Leighton Roberts from Wrexham. Jack recently made his Cheshire County senior debut on the green with a great performance beating Dan Petcher. Leighton has an impressive record of open competition wins over recent years.

Next up sees local hope Matt Thurlwell from Comberbach take on Chris Ashton from Warrington. The Roberts Bakery employee doesn’t enter many competitions on the circuit but an excellent record in the local leagues over a good number of years coupled with support from his Comberbach teammates, will see him hoping for a good run in the final day.

Comberbach have their second representative in the finals day in the next game as former PDO Darts player Stuart Kellett faces a tough opponent in up-and-coming prospect Matty Worden of Ellesmere Port.

Stuart will receive the same support as Thurwell and Comberbach will feel confident that one of their two players can progress to the later stages of the competition.

The final game of the last 16 sees a blockbuster affair between last year’s winner of the competition, Wayne Ditchfield, and the competition winning machine of Callum Wraight from Shrewsbury. Wraight is already the winner of multiple competitions this season, with his most recent win coming at the Fleetwood Festival last week. Many will see the winner of the competition coming from this game.

The green is in excellent condition and the competition organiser Adi Faulkner will be hoping for a good day weather wise.

The club will be open with a BBQ to keep spectators well nourished. A bookmaker will be in attendance for those that like a small wager.

Over at Wharton Cons the qualifying for their Open competition continued and this week’s qualifiers were multiple winner of the trophy Graeme Wilson and Danny Ferris from the Potteries.

Play continues on Sunday starting at 6pm when Adi Faulkner is the local hope in a field dominated by players from Warrington.