Wood go 19 points clear at the top of Premier League

The in-form championship leaders won for the 13th time in 14 league games by defeating Hanwood 8-4 (210-205 aggregate) away from home to bag 12 points and lead the table by 19.

They were helped by stand-out performances from Andrew Jones and Jamie King who beat Richard Addison and Darren Wellings respectively, both winning 21-11.

A bright spark for Hanwood came in the form of Darren Wellings’ strong result over Mark Jones, winning 21-8, but they slipped to fourth in the table.

Castlefields dropped six points further back from the leaders after they shared their games with Newport 6-6, but lost 222-194 on aggregate.

Castlefields’ Michael Beer turned in their best result, defeating Newport’s Ashley Gregory 21-14, while Cody Everitt had the best result for Newport, beating Dan Jones 21-4.

Castlefields’ six points keep them second in the league, while Newport’s eight points were enough to overtake Ifton for eighth position.

Bottom club Bylet drew 6-6 at Highley in a close-run fixture that was decided on aggregate (210-208) in the hosts’ favour.

Highley moved up to 12th after David East provided their best result with a 21-6 win over Gary Cooper.

Scott Harries tried to fight back for Bylet, winning 21-7 against Phil Chester.

Sir J Bayley took a 7-5 (215-196) victory at Ifton, with exceptional games from Ifton’s Paul Hallett (21-9) against Owen Evans and Sir J Bayley’s Scott Simpson, who beat Adrian Humphries (21-3). Reigning champions Bayley climbed to third, 42 points adrift of table-topping Wood, while Ifton are ninth.

Sixth-placed Burway lost 7-5 (233-190) at Wem USC, who dropped to 11th in the table.

Gareth Davies turned in Wem’s best result, beating Len Lewis 21-7, as Wayne Rogers was Burway’s star man, with a victory (21-12) over Mike Dulson.

Fifth-placed St Georges earned a 9-3 (227-185) victory at home against Meole Brace, with St Georges’ Ian Gaut (21-3) and Meole Brace’s Julian Cooke (21-9) turning in their teams’ respective best results.

Chester Road slipped back to second bottom as they fell 8-4 (217-205) at Hanmer.

Gary Beff’s performance was a positive for Chester Road, beating Jack Hewitt (21-10), while Hanmer’s Matthew Beeston took a strong victory over Andy Smith (21-5).

Holders Wrockwardine Wood played their get out of jail card to return to the final of the County Cup thanks to a thrilling two-shot victory.

The Shropshire Premier Bowling League leaders were always behind against Sir John Bayley in the first semi-final of the KGJ Insurance-sponsored knockout at Sinclair in Saturday night – until it counted right at the death.

A 21-7 first four card by Clay Flattley helped put the Bayley 14 chalks up after the first four and Chris Worthington added a 21-8 in the middle as the Wrockites went into the back four 18 adrift.

It took a 21-11 win by Scott Moseley to give them a glimmer of hope, which Dan Taylor (21-14) and Jamie King (21-19) added to before last on Steve Broome clinched a 21-20 success over Scott Simpson to seal a remarkable recovery.

“We are still wondering how we actually won the tie,” admitted Wood chairman Steve Robert a full 24 hours later.

But even if the aggregate scores had finished level, the Bayley would have bowed out as they only had four winners in the 12-a-side clash that was played on a quick green and in super summer sunshine.

David Lloyd, crowned County Merit champion on the same green just last month, and Shropshire senior team man Paul Evans were the Bayley’s other winners, but it was the Glynn Hill Trophy holders who headed home the happiest – and shaking their heads in disbelief.

Now they will play the winners of semi-final No.2 between Castlefields and last year’s beaten finalists Ifton at Hadley USC at the weekend – in the 2022 showpiece.