Qualifying is proving tough for county aces

They took just four of the 16 places up for grabs over the first weekend of qualifying at the Shrewsbury club as the calibre of entries from all over England and Wales took its toll.

Past winner Andy Moss, St Georges returnee Clay Flattley, Wrockwardine Wood county man Stuart Rutter and 2015 champion Andy Hughes of Ifton were the quartet who actually won their three games to make finals day on Sunday, April 2.

There were also close calls for past winner Paul Williams, Peter Farmer, Ash Wellings, Andy Foster and Adam Jones who all lost in their final game, but generally Shropshire bowlers were very much in the shade.

"The quality of qualifiers shows what they are up against this year – and shows what the interest in Shropshire is at the moment," said competition organiser Barry Jennings.

"Everyone who played said the greens and facilities were superb, which was different to last year."

Chester Road star Moss, the Meole winner in 2007 who is understood to be considering a county team selector role, enjoyed 21-7, 21-13 and 21-11 strolls as he qualified on Saturday.

But it was Flattley who was first through, quickly followed by the in-form Hughes, with the rest of Saturday's success stories being twice past winner Graeme Wilson (Yorkshire), John Jones (Mold), Paul Kissock (Cumbria), Paul Leah (Ashton) and last year's beaten finalist Michael McDonald (Lloyds).

Rutter's route to the last 32 was much tougher on Sunday as he had to survive two 21-20 squeaks, one against Ifton's Dickie Jones, before beating Brian Smith of Derbyshire 21-18 to qualify.

He was joined in making it by Stuart Mort (Kirkham), Gary Owen (Potteries), Kevin Boon (Congleton), Gwerydd Buckland (Bangor), Steve Pratt (Bedworth), Jack Dyson (Meltham) and fast emerging young Yorkshireman Josh Mordue.

The rest of the full house of 256 entries will attempt to qualify for finals day at the weekend, with sessions starting at 10.15am on both Saturday and Sunday.