The Baggeridge four-man team competition produced a finals night of excellent bowling on a superb green.

Defending champions St Georges faced a tricky semi-final encounter against King George V, who had dumped the well-fancied Haunchwood out at the quarter final stage.

Peter Farmer gave the Telford side an excellent start by defeating Paul Lamb 21-18 and Alan Davidson followed up with a 21-17 defeat of Russell Prosser.

The Northfield side fought back tenaciously with a 21-19 victory for Steve Pratt and a 21-18 win for Chris Bergin.

But it was St George’s who scrapped through to the final by a mere two shots.

The other semi-final saw the Greville Arms brush aside Nordley Liberals B by 38 shots. Paul Bailey and Steve Wallace were both in exemplary form to win their games 21-15 and 21-6 respectively, and with team-mates Richard Dandy and Gareth Herbert also winning they appeared to be favourites for the final.

The final itself was a very tight game with the initiative going with St Georges with leads for three of their four bowlers, only for the Greville Arms to fight back.

The top game saw unbeaten Pete Farmer taking on Paul Bailey and it was the quality of Farmer’s all-round game that saw him come out a 21-15 winner.

The pressure was now on the other Greville bowlers it was Steve Wallace who responded by producing four excellent bowls to go from 17 across to a 21-17 victory and thus reducing the gap to two.

Despite a spirited performance from Richard Dandy, St George’s Mick Jones clinched the trophy with a narrow 21-18 win.

Alan Palin completed the job with a 21-15 victory over recent Waterloo quarter-finalist Gareth Herbert and an overall victory of 11 shots.

Results Semi Finals: Nordley Liberals B 46 Greville Arms 84 R. Bate 15 P. Bailey 21, B. Dixon 6 S. Wallace 21, S. Simpson 9 R. Dandy 21, A. Simpson 16 G. Herbert 21 St Georges 79 King George V 77 P. Farmer 21 P. Lamb 18, A. Davidson 21 R. Prosser 17, M. Jones 19 S. pratt 21, A. Palin 18 C. Bergin 21.

Final: St Georges 80 Greville Arms 69 P. Farmer 21 P. Bailey 15, A. Davidson 17 S. Wallace 21, A. Palin 21 G. Herbert 15, M. Jones 21 R. Dandy 18.

• There was better news for Warwick and Worcester in the final of the Free Press Cup as The George defeated Woodfield in another close contest.

Played at Hamstead. Ant Aldridge and Colin Beaman got the blue coats off to an excellent start as they returned 21-11 and 21-10 cards.

But Jamie Dunn produced a superb 21-5 card to keep the George in the game.

Carl Fellows’ 21-15 card kept Woodfield in front by a single shot going into the back four.

Three of the four winners went the way of The George including a 21-9 victory for Pete Williams that saw the Warley side home by 12.

Results (The George first): J. Dunn 11 A. Aldridge 21, S. Darling 21 M. Orme 5, P. Richards 21 B. Daly 18, P. McGuinness 10 C. Beaman 21, D. Wood 15 C. Fellows 21, M. McGuinness 21 S. Jones 17, R. Broadfield 21 C. Halford 17, D. Hopwood 20 S. Rutter 21, P. Rolls 21 J. Newey 11, P. Davenport 21 L. Hazelhurst 20, P. Williams 21 I. Pick 9, P. Clinton 17 D. Semper 21.

The George hosted its famous Masters competition and saw top Greater Manchester bowler Gary Ellis leave with another winning cheque totalling £800.

Ellis was never really challenged throughout the finals and his final victory 31-4 demonstrated his superiority on the green.

Semi Finals: D. Barwise (Merseyside) 31 A. Bracken (Warwick & Worcester) 28, G. Ellis (Greater Manchester) 31 A. Aldridge (Staffordshire) 18.

Final: G. Ellis 31 D. Barwise 4.

The winter bowling season gets under way at Oaklands this Saturday. Contact Chris Harman (01902) 352674.