Matthews and Smith up and running with a win at Lilleshall

They won the first one-day competition of the year on the green in the grounds of the National Sports Centre – but only after some extra time action

A club spokesperson explained: “Fourteen members took to the green for the traditional yardstick competition for the Valerie Smith Memorial Trophy, and it was lovely to welcome some new members taking part for the first time.

“Organised by Kath Matthews and Bill Greenway, the competition consisted of 25 ends of two bowls, with every bowl finishing within a yard of the jack, as measured using the official stick, scoring one point.

“It was very close and in both the ladies’ and mens’ groups there were ties for first position - between Deb Sherriff and Kath Matthews for the ladies and Peter Hancock and Quentin Smith for the gents.

“This required a penalty shoot-out, so all four bowled a single bowl at the same time to one jack – and even then the competition was close, with Kath and Quentin just overcoming their opponents.”

LIlleshall’s next comp is a drawn pairs for the Bayliss Cup on Saturday (MAY 7), followed by a home match against Gilt Edge on Sunday (2.30pm start) and the regular free to attend open session on Thursday (2pm).

Elsewhere , it was Bank Holiday weekend of nearly, but not quite, for Shropshire bowls No.1 Callum Wraight.

The Castlefields king was a semi-finalist in Weston Trophy at Brockholes BC in Huddersfield on Saturday night and then fell at the last 16 hurdle in Monday’s first Spring Waterloo finals to be played at Fleetwood.

The Shrewsbury man claimed the scalps of Scott Fisher (Wakefield) and Paul Wilczinski (Leeds) at Brockholes before losing 21-18 to eventual title winner Paul Dudley of Radcliffe.

A 21-15 card against Ryan Sandham spelt the end at Fleetwood, the Manchester bowler going on to lose 21-16 to Greg Smith the final, the West Midlands star having won both of his two games for Hanwood in the Premier League to date.

Meanwhile, Sir John Bayley Club team-mates Paul Evans and Scott Simpson contested the final of the Staffs 21st Century Champions event at Woodfield, Shropshire senior team man Evans winning 21-20.