Stuart Greenhalgh brings us the latest news from around the crown green bowling venues of Mid Cheshire...

BACK in June, we reported about how two young Mid Cheshire lads had made it to the final in the Cheshire Junior Merit.

Luka Jones-Dakic narrowly won the trophy but both he and Finley Harrop qualified for the BCGBA Junior Merit.

They would be playing against all the best young bowlers from the country, many of them a lot older than the two 12-year-old Cheshire boys, but they did themselves proud.

In the last 32 Luka had a tight win 21-19 against Tom Hayward from Staffordshire.

Finley also progressed to the last 16 by beating Dyfan Thomas from Wales 21-17.

Luka then had an even closer contest, beating Dylan Burdett from North Midlands 21-20.

Finley had a much easier time, booking his quarter-Final 21-13 against Fin Roche from North Midlands.

Sadly, that is where it ended with both young men getting beaten in the quarter finals.

Hopefully, they can both look back and realise what an excellent job they did competing against bowlers older than them.

They are both a great credit to Mid Cheshire and if they stick at it, I am sure you will be reading plenty more about them over the next few years.

Meanwhile, within the space of two days Mid Chesire’s Mr Consistency, Tom Vickers captured both the Norley Merit and the D&D Coatings Mid Cheshire Merit Crowns.

No further information on these successes was available at the time of writing.

On Tuesday, the 13th in the Mid Cheshire League, Castle Sports welcomed Rudheath to their green and increased their unbeaten run to 10 games.

Rudheath came away with three winners in their defeat of 197-120.

On Friday, Frodsham beat Kingswood BC 210-84. This is Frodsham’s fourth full house of the season and so far, they have not come close to losing at home.

Helsby inflicted on Crewe PO their fifth defeat of the season. With six winners to four, Helsby won the match 187-171.

Middlewich Community BC had a good home win against Alsager. With both teams fighting to stay up, the 184-143 victory now gives Middlewich a 100-point lead over Alsager who are third from bottom.

Wharton Cons had another great away win, beating Comberbach A 146-185. This result keeps them second, but Frodsham are drawing closer.

In Section One, Shavington had nine winners at home to third place Meadowbank. The victory of 201-140 keeps them firmly on top.

Second place Owley Wood B lost at Tarporley 181-173.

In Section Two, it is looking like a Victoria/Barnton first and second at the end of the season with Castle Sports D over 200 points behind in third place.

Over in the Mid Cheshire Ladies, Red Lion had another good home win beating Winnington 162-68.

With only two games left in the league season, it looks impossible for Red Lion to not regain the league title.

Castle, in second place, made the trip to third place Barnton A and came away with a great result beating Barnton 130-139.

Castle must be favourites for second as Barnton have to face Red Lion at home on the last day of the season.

The Second Division is much more open as the gap between first and fifth is only 74 points with only two games to play.

Rudheath, who right now top the table, must travel to second place Barnton, and then play fourth place Moulton at home on the last day of the league season.

On Sunday, four teams travelled to Monks Sports for the final day of the Cheshire Inter League.

In one semi final Crewe PO played Poynton Sports, in the other Castle Sports took on Victoria Holmes Chapel.

Crewe PO had an uneventful game to reach the final, with seven winners to Poynton Sports’ one and a final score of Crewe 161-112.

The other semi-final between Castle Sports and Victoria Holmes Chapel was a close affair, with both teams having four winners each. Castle Sports just crept through to the final winning 137-136.

The final between Castle and Crewe PO was also a close game with both teams having four winners. This time for Castle Sports it was not as close as the semi with Castle winning 148-138 and defending the trophy they won last year.

Results (PO players first): Ian Howell 21-16 Steve Morrey, Nigel Parsonage 21-10 Rob Winnington, Darren Palin 12-21 Andy Hamman, Dave Bamford 21-18 Adrian Faulkner, Dan Hazeldine 18-21 Matty Hamman, Dave Morrey 15-21 John Gurney, Paul Phillips 9-21 Paul Dooley, Martin Lloyd 21-20 Steven P Baskerville.