With another competition receiving a poor entry, it was good to see the Grassington club enter in strength, which paid dividends as Pat Clarke once again put on a good show to retain the Dick Keighley Cup.

The eight finalists and a good following of supporters turned up at the Devonshire Club to see the bowlers from Division Two and Division Three show their class.

Pat Clarke started the final night with a quarter-final against Gary Bailey from Whinfield.

Gary is a new starter this season, but he made Pat pull out all the stops to go through 21-16.

Another Whinfield qualifier was Tony Langstroth, and he also put up a good performance but found Cononley’s Phil Boocock just a little to strong on the night, also going out 21-16.

The second Grassington qualifier was team skipper Jean Rowley, who had a tough draw against Stewart MacDonald from Keighley.

The latter was 8-0 up after four ends, and Rowley could never recover,  losing 21-4.

The last quarter-final pitted Peter Shaw (Craven) against Sutton’s Dennis Wynne Jones, and a close match ended with Shaw lying two for game unril Wynne Jones’ last bowl took the jack for a 21-19 win.

Clarke started her semi-final with Boocock in good order and was soon ahead 7-1.

Boocock settled down, making some good ends count in levelling at 7-7 before going ahead 11-0.

But Clarke then found an extra gear with some very good bowls, running away to win 21-10.

The other match paired two players who were looking to reach their first final, and Wynne Jones was first to get going, leading 7-2.

MacDonald responded to get to 9-9 but could not keep the jack for more than two ends, five points in three ends allowing Wynne Jones to set up a 17-13 lead.

His opponent pulled points back, but Jones had enough of a lead to get home 21-18. In the final, he needed to settle first, and early points did the trick as he led 5-3.

But Clarke showed no sign of nerves and was soon on a roll, six scoring ends bringing an 11-5 advantage.

Wynne Jones had to get the jack for a few ends but Clarke was not going to let the trophy slip away easily, and kept her lead with enough singles to make sure she got to the winning line first by a well-deserved 21-18.

League president Warren Burnett thanked all the players, the clubs and sponsors Crown Paints before presenting the prizes and the Dick Keighley Cup to Clarke.

With all the results from the league matches now available, the top players from each division are known.

Phil Dowgill has once again proved to be Skipton’s best league player, also reached the Yorkshire Merit semi-final, the local Merit final and went to the British Merit in Warwickshire.

His statistics for the e 2013 season are played 29, won 26 and points scored 597, giving him an average win of +8.59 and an aggregate score of 20.58.

Second in Division One was Rob Scarr of Cononley (+7.86), with team mate Steve Wood a close third (+7.85). John Parkin of Cononley was second aggregate with 20.35.

In Division Two, Karl Lockwood of Oakworth led the way with played 27, won 25, points scored 553 for an average of +9.04.

Second was David Turner of Rolls Royce with +8.90, while Rolls player Steve Hounslow (+8.71) was third.

The aggregate went to David Turner, who played all 30 games and won 28, scoring 618 points with an aggregate of 20.60. Lockwood was second with 20.48 and Devon B’s Nick Squires was third with 20.35.

In Division Three, Keith Drinkall of Gargrave B came top, playing 23, winning 21 and scoring 475 points with a 9.48 average and a 20.65 aggregate. Second was Steve Lloyd of Lund Park C (+8.50) with an aggregate of 20.21, and third was Keith’s wife Jennifer Drinkall with 6.65.

The end-of-season cup finals take place tonight. The Ken Johnson will be at Gargrave and the Richard Lambert at Silsden Playing Fields.

The Oakley’s Bistro Mixed Doubles will be held at Devon on Sunday (start 12.30pm), and 16 pairs will be taking part with the competition playing to a conclusion at Devon.

Pairs: J Ellis & B Humphreys, W R Burnett & J Kane, L Bland & R Sanderson, R&J Southworth, K R Burnett and J Myers, B&D Heslop, K Moore & C Rushton, N Breadley & M Slater, J Chambers & J Farrage, L&J Buxton, K&A Coppen, D&M Hemsley, D Jacques & S Gadd, D Varley & C Uttley, D Burgess & C Harrison, R Bland & K Harrison.

The MacPherson Paints Norman Johnston qualifying round will be next Thursday (6.45pm) in Skipton, with all four greens being used (Broughton Road, Craven, Devon, and Whinfield).

There will be two qualifiers from each green for the final on Friday, September 20. Places are still available: e-mail or ring Peter Haworth.