Best yet for St Georges in Meole Brace rout

After sharing the first four, St Georges rattled off eight winners in a row to leapfrog the Shrewsbury-based side and move level on points with leaders Ifton.

The 12-2 success came two days after Rhodes' men picked up a useful five points away to the Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowls League table-toppers.

Rhodes said: "I couldn't have asked for any more. There won't be many teams get five at Ifton and we blew Meole Brace away in the back eight.

"In my 40-plus years of bowling I have never seen a front four where every card has been 21-11, either winning or losing.

"I always put a strong first four out and after sharing that I would have loved a 10-4.

"But it was a really good performance and we put 73 chalks on the board. And there were a couple of our lads who needed a win who got one."

Ifton remain top on aggregate despite being being well beaten 11-3 at Bylet.

Scott Harries was the pick of Ifton's players when producing a most valuable player display, with his 21-16 victory against Nick Powner.

But Bylet have now won eight consecutive home games since losing to Ifton in the second half of last season.

Scott Harries claimed MVP for the Bridgnorth side with a 21-2 win over visiting skipper Dicky Jones.

Bylet skipper Mick Harries said: "We played well and won the front four which got us off to a great start.

"I would probably have been happy beforehand to share six winners and take the aggregate so an 11-3 was great.

"There was a couple of games that could have gone wrong for us but we seem to be taking more of the close matches this season.

"But you are only as good as your next game and we we have got a very tough one on Friday against St Georges."

Chester Road were brought crashing back down to earth, a week after their 13-1 success over Newport when they were beaten at Hanwood by the same score.

Ash Wellings at No 1 ended the captains' curse for the home side (11 games without a win for the three skippers) with a 21-3 card against Paul Fowles.

Fellow captain Mark Shore then put in an MVP performance to beat the previously undefeated Andy Moss 21-9.

Wayne Lawrence came back from 9-0 down to win in his first Premier League game for six years and help Newport to an 11-3 victory over Bowring.

Captain Mark Selley said: "Wayne had a couple of years where he didn't bowl at all, but we are glad he's back now.

"He can't make the County Cup game tomorrow but he is part of our Premier squad and if you win you're in, so he will play again this week.

"It was an excellent performance from him and he showed that he still has it.

"But it was a very good team performance and a good response after the result at Chester Road the previous week."

Sir John Bayley picked up the best away points haul as they returned from Castlefields with only an 8-6 defeat.

After a shared first four, in which Clay Flattley and Keith Walton won single figures for the home side.

Scott Simpson won 11 for the visitors to be their best winner, Castlefields taking a 5-3 lead with Mike Beer winning 12 for MVP.

But despite Andy Duckett winning to five, the Bayley took the other three winners in the back four, led by MVP Paul Evans who won to 13.

Wrockwardine Wood and Wem USC used home advantage well to record 11-3 wins over Hadley USC and Burway respectively.

New signing Mark Jones was Wood MVP on his first time on the green. Colin Smith led the way for Wem, with his 21-8 success over Len Lewis earning him the MVP.