YET again it was Wirral players who dominated the latter stages of a local bowls tournament.

This time it was Tixall's Ian Hazlehurst who upset the odds to snatch the first prize at the McParland Williams Tixall Classic last Monday.

In the quarter-finals, he beat Dave Jackson from Altrincham before being just a little too good in the semi-final for New Brighton Quarry Viking's Jamie Box.

In the final, Hazlehurst came up against another Quarry Vikings player Terry Glover who had already beaten Tony Gatley from Warrington and Tixall's Mick Andrews on his way to the final.

The final was very tight but Hazlehurst came through with a 21- 19 victory.

Results:

Quarter-finals: I Hazlehurst (Tixall) 21, D Jackson (Altrincham) 14; J Box (New Brighton Quarry Vikings) 21, T Lowndes (Ellesmere Port) 10; M Andrews (Tixall) 21, S Glover (New Brighton Quarry Vikings) 15; T Glover (New Brighton Quarry Vikings) 21, T Gatley (Warrington)12.

Semi-finals: Hazlehurst 21, Box 10; Glover 21, Andrews 16.

Final: Hazlehurst 21, Glover 19.

Next Sunday, June, 8, at 2pm, Tixall play Whitkirk BC (Leeds) in the first-round of the Super Cup 2014, a new national competition for which there were 92 entries from around the country.

The format is very unusual in that in the home leg at Tixall just four players from each team will play each other in games of 31 up, two on the green at once. The away leg in Leeds is at 6.30pm the same day. The Tixall team would welcome all the support they can get in this new venture.

On Tuesday, May 27, New Brighton Queens Royal's Ray Lynch won the Wallasey Association's Federation Merit Tournament in a long night at Royden Hall.

In the final he beat the in-form Ian Hazlehurst of West Kirby Victoria, 21-16.

The eight players who qualified to represent Wallasey in the Federation's Championship Singles Tournament taking place in Blackburn at the end of September are Lynch and Hazlehurst along with West Kirby Victoria's Jamie Fitzpatrick, John Cosgrove and Brian Somerville and New Brighton Quarry Viking's Chris Barton, Jamie Box and Brian Leonard.

Last Sunday, June 1, Heswall played in the Cheshire County's Norman Cup. They had to give the Navigation Club of Altrincham a 25 start but nine winners helped them to a comfortable 25-point win.

In the Birkenhead and Wirral League the big success story so far is the New Brighton Quarry Vikings Club; the first team has won all its six games and tops the first division and their players also dominate the division's averages table.

Tixalls, are still undefeated and are in second place having played one game less.It is the same story in the second division where the New Brighton Quarry Vikings 'B'

team have also won their first six games and are also top of the league.

In the Bebington and District 'A' Division the undefeated leaders are last year's champions, Gladstone, with three teams, Levers, Heswall RBL and Oxton Cons, tied just two points behind.

In the Wallasey Association League One New Brighton Queens Royal and West Kirby Victoria are vying for top place. New Brighton Quarry Vikings are in third place.