A DISSAPOINTING turn-out did not affect the quality of the Flowfit Ludlow and District Bowls League veterans and junior competitions at Craven Arms Bowling Club.

Defending veterans champion Roy Crowther had a bye into the semi final in the seven-strong field and another previous winner, Graham Lane, lost to home bowler Laurie Jones 21-18, setting up an all Craven Arms semi between Jones and Terry Lucas.

Jones raced into an 8-2 lead before Lucas got the block in hand and turned the tables to lead 16-9.

Jones pulled a couple of shots back but Lucas ran out a convincing, 21-12 winner.

The other semi was between Craven Arms’ Tony Cowdale and the holder, from Burway.

Crowther made the most of his rival’s two-point starting penalty, as a home bowler, to lead 6-5 before a run of twos saw him stretch his lead to 18-6.

Cowdale pulled back to 19-17 but Crowther got the two shots needed to win 21-17.

That set up a final between Lucas and Crowther and the former made light of his two-point penalty.

Lucas started to edge away with a 14-7 lead but Crowther rallied to 16-15 down.

However Lucas moved up a gear to comfortably claim his first League Veteran trophy 21-15.

Only four players – Shropshire county’s Harry Parsonage, George Cooper, Liam Dovey and Toby Foxall – contested the juniors title.

The first semi was a rematch of last year’s final between Bromfield's Parsonage and Temester’s Cooper.

Holder Parsonage, aiming for a third straight title, started slowly to sit 4-0 down before recovering to lead 10-5. Cooper pulled it back to 13-10 but an unruffled Parsonage claimed a 21-10 victory.

In the other tie, Bromfield’s Dovey and home bowler Foxall were bidding to win for the final time before turning 19 and Dovey took ruthless advantage of his opponent’s penalty to lead 12-1 and 17-7 and rarely looked back en route to a 21-15 success despite Foxall’s rally of twos late on.

Dovey gave his clubmate a fright by pulling back to 8-8 after falling 8-2 behind but Parsonage kept picking up shots after his initial flurry of twos and claimed his third crown with an eventual 21-15 victory.