Stuart Greenhalgh brings us the latest bowls news from around the region…

Friday’s Mid-Cheshire League matches were played in sunshine, unlike the week before.

Two Premier Division teams managed to score a full house at home – Frodsham Red Lion and Castle Sports A both scored the maximum of 210, with Alsager only scoring 101 against Frodsham.

Some of the rain-cancelled games from the Friday before last will be getting played over the next week, which should give us a better idea of the league tables and teams’ true standing.

Mid Cheshire Fed

Meanwhile, a warm Sunday afternoon at Wharton Cons saw the Mid-Cheshire Federation bowls team line up against Halifax for a game both sides needed to win.

Federation is played with 24 bowlers on each side, with 12 playing locally and the other 12 going away.

After both the home and away first four had been completed, Mid-Cheshire looked in total control with three winners and one loser at each venue.

What followed for the remainder of the games was a fightback by the Halifax team as they had seven winners in their last eight games on home soil.

At Wharton, Mid Cheshire shared the wins 4-4 and due to a slightly better aggregate score, Mid-Cheshire just managed to scrape a 17-15 win.

Tuesday sees the resumption of the Littler Cup, with the last eight playing for a spot in the semi-finals.

Littler Cup fixtures

Owley Wood A v Wharton Cons A, Lk Graylams v Rudheath Bowls B, Rudheath Bowls A v Crewe PO and Frod Red Lion A v Barnton CC A.

The semi-finals will be played on Tuesday, June 4.

Monday sees the first Mid-Cheshire Ladies League matches of 2024 commence.

This is not the opening day for the ladies – back in April, they had their charity pairs which saw Carolyn Stiff and Emma Webb win the competition thanks to a 21-16 win over Dorothy Breeze and Janet Newton.

Meanwhile, the Cheshire Merit qualifiers were played in the Mid-Cheshire area, with the six qualifiers being Andrew Gregory, Andy Hamman, Glynn Cookson, Nick Hamman, Tom Vickers and James Gurney.

Tom has also this week made it to the Spring Waterloo quarter finals.

The Mid Cheshire ladies county teams start their campaign this Sunday, 19th May, against Cumbria.

Their home game will be played for the first time at Tarvin. The match starts about 2pm and I am sure the ladies would appreciate some support. Tarvin Bowling Club, George V Playing Fields, Townsend Road, Tarvin, CH3 8EG.