INDOOR BOWLS: Suffolk always had the upper hand in the Liberty Trophy match against Yorkshire at the Newark Indoor Bowls Club. At ten ends Suffolk were 26 shots up and by the end of the 15th end had increased their lead to 40 shots.

INDOOR BOWLS

Suffolk always had the upper hand in the Liberty Trophy match against Yorkshire at the Newark Indoor Bowls Club.

At ten ends Suffolk were 26 shots up and by the end of the 15th end had increased their lead to 40 shots. The outcome never looked in doubt, but Yorkshire fought back to reduce the final arrears to 20 shots.

Although Suffolk lost on three of the six rinks it was a magnificent all-round performance as all the losing rinks won more ends than their opponents.

Leading the way for Suffolk with an outstanding victory were Mark Todd, David Revell, Eric Gooch and John Catchpole, who, after scoring a five on the first end, went from strength to strength, finishing the game 23 shots up to keep up their unbeaten run in this year's event.

There were five ends that the rink of Steve Miller, Phil Last, Aaron Brown and Mark Royal will want to forget in a hurry.

They had the match under control at 11 shots up but things went wrong over the final ends and although they won 12 of the 21 ends, they lost by five shots.

The four of John Rednall, Jim Kennedy, Julian Poole and Colin Rumsby went down to a rare seven-shot defeat in a tightly-fought encounter.

They were eight down but by the tenth end had forced their way in front, but they could only grab the odd single from then on.

Another rink slow to start were Richard Leeder, Graham Rowland, Bob King and Greg Nash, who struggled over the early ends but managed to dig in and score 15 shots to their opponents' four over the final ten ends.

Nine dead ends were recorded in the match between Martin Rumball and V O'Neill.

In between there was some very fine bowling by the Suffolk rink of Stuart Gaught, Andy Bishop and Geoff Ramsbottom, the last two making their debuts in the Liberty.

This match swung like a pendulum, Yorkshire having the final say by picking up two shots on the last end.

The rink of Steve Botten, Colin Gathercole, David Wellington and John Chalk, having controlled the game for 15 ends, were suddenly fighting for their lives as Yorkshire came back, but they held on for a one-shot win.

Suffolk meet Worcestershire in the quarter-finals on Saturday, January 18.