THREE teams from the Mid-Cheshire Bowling Association secured for themselves a semi-finals spot last weekend.

However a fourth team still in contention, Lloyd Hotel, are probably the team to beat.

Holder Hazel Pear finally started the defence of their title, after two aborted attempts when scheduled opponents withdrew, with a victory over West Kirby Victoria.

An outstanding performance from Phil Wingfield, who beat Malcolm Johnson 21-7, made the difference as they prevailed by 13 chalks on aggregate at Sale Excelsior.

They returned seven winning cards.

Lostock Graylams’ remarkable run continued when they used a handicap advantage to beat Frodsham Red Lion.

They squeezed through by an eight-point margin, helped by wins for Jon Malisch (21-17), Ray Brandreth (21-13) and Mark Woodyatt (21-14) at Alpraham.

Their opponents had seven victors as they attempted to overturn a 45-chalk deficit at the outset.

Rudheath had a more comfortable afternoon dispatching LMRCA at the Railway Inn in Congleton.

Trailing by 20 chalks at the start, they cruised through by 41 in the final reckoning after triumphing in all but one of the head-to-heads.

Life was made a bit harder when Dave Buckley lost 21-9 in the opening game against Alan Cheetham.

It did not deter the men from Middlewich Road, and they took the next nine blocks with impressive wins to single figures for John Lightfoot (21-6) and Tim Hulme (21-5) among the highlights.

Results

Cheshire County Bowling Association

Norman Cup

Saturday, July 13

Quarter-finals (team handicap in brackets)

Frodsham RL (25) 216-224 Lostock Graylams (70) (at Alpraham)

LMRCA (50) 187-228 Rudheath (30) (at Railway, Congleton)

Metro Sports (30) 176-206 Lloyd Hotel (scr) (at Urmston Sports)

West Kirby Victoria (30) 203-216 Hazel Pear (30) (at Sale Excelsior)

Draw

Semi-finals (to be played on Saturday, August 10)

Hazel Pear (30) v Rudheath (30)

Lloyd Hotel (scr) v Lostock Graylams (70)