BEN Wright became the 57th winner of the £500 Crown Green Bowling Handicap last Sunday when he beat Paul Lewis 21-15 in the final.

First called the Evening Mail Trophy in 1962, when it was one of only a handful of competitions run at that time, the event attracted 67 entries and was played on the two greens at West Mount.

Players alternated between greens for the opening three rounds, with the last eight finishing on the main green.

Fancied players dropped out at regular intervals as the competition progressed, with Chris Johnson an early casualty after losing 21-14 to Kenny Judge.

Last year’s winner Danny Edmonds trailed Salthouse bowler Martin Carpenter 20-19, before finding two singles to progress. His next round opponent was another Salthouse player Mark Singleton, who built up a 13-5 lead, then 19-13, before winning 21-16.

It was an extraordinary win for Singleton, who has only been bowling for 13 months.

Adam Miller progressed through two rounds before his run was stopped by a fine display from home bowler Steve Holmes.

Winner Wright was nearly sent packing in the first round by another favourite, Mark Johnson, who led 15-8 and 19-15 before failing to add to his score.

Wright then comfortably beat Kian Goude, 21-13, Singleton, 21-10, and a lot of people's fancy, Paul Kissock, 21-13, to reach the semi-finals.

His opponent there was Lee Barnard who, after bowling well all day, only managed 16 ends against the in-form Red River bowler, going down 21-6.

Lewis opened his account with a 21-10 victory against 13-year-old Jack Brannon, before beating Ronnie Walmsley, 21-7, Roose Community team-mate Danny Graham, 21-15, and Steve Holmes, also 21-15, to set up a semi-final against Kyle Brown.

The game was close, with Lewis leading 11-9, which was quickly extended to 16-9. Brown closed the gap to 16-12 before Lewis, who has put in a lot of effort in running the competition prior to this year, ran out a comfortable winner.

In the final, Wright scored the first single to lead 4-2. Lewis then got two doubles to lead 6-4, before Wright took over the lead again at 10-6.

Seven singles and a double followed for Lewis, who seemed to have control of the game at 15-10, but remarkably Wright went on to win the final eight ends and take the title 21-15.

Furness and District League chairman Joe Wardman introduced West Mount stalwart Mike Hodgson, who presented the trophies to the finalists.

RESULTS

Quarter finals: Steve Holmes 15 Paul Lewis 21, Kyle Brown 21 Kevin Toal 20, Paul Kissock 13 Ben Wright 21, Lee Barnard 21 Kenny Judge 14.

Semi finals: Lewis 21 Brown 12, Wright 21 Barnard 6.

Final: Lewis 15 Wright 21.