THE Mid Cheshire Federation crown green bowlteam were involved in a thrilling tussle with East Lancs on Sunday.

Joe Tomkinson, Phil Scott and Kevin Duncalf secured single-figure victories in the home leg at Rudheath Sports Club and with the final game on the green at Rudheath the match was in the balance with Jon Gurney needing to secure a 21-19 victory to ensure Mid Cheshire claimed overall victory.

Unfortunately Gurney lost the game 21-18 which meant Mid Cheshire lost the tie 19pts to 13pts. At the away venue in Rossendale Mid Cheshire won 4 of the 12 games.

Mid Cheshire currently sit on top of the Division Three table and face the defining game of the 2022 season when they tackle their promotion rivals South Lancs in July when they will be looking for a positive result in their bid for promotion.

The De Knoop Cup reaches the semi-final stage on Saturday.

The Cheshire competition for B teams in the county has thrown up a clash between local rivals Castle Sports and Wharton Cons with the match taking place at Owley Wood No2 green starting at 2pm.

The Cheshire county team have their final group game against Derbyshire on Sunday with the home leg being played at Crosstown BC in Knutsford, 2pm start.

Mid Cheshire teams provide 10 of the Cheshire players at the home venue.

Victory for Cheshire would see them having won two of the three group games in the 2022 campaign but only a freak set of results would see them progress to the semi-final stages.

The Wharton Cons Open gets underway on Sunday with eight weeks of qualifiers culminating in the finals day on their traditional bank holiday Sunday date in August.

The field for the first week is Andrew Lund, Thomas Wright, James Eaton (Comberbach), Paul Roberts, Craig Hopwood, Chris Baker, Alec Heaps, Duncan Wright, Mark Holden, Ian Howell (Castle Sports), Gordon Mackintosh, John Rawlinson (Red Lion), Dave Hanson, Nick Wyer and Ivan Smout.