Sixteen teams had progressed to the final via the two preliminary rounds of the competition held a fortnight ago.

Making the most of the dry day they competed in a thrilling event which saw some top class teams produce exciting bowling in an attempt to be the first to claim the Silver Trophy and a share of the £370 prize money on offer.

The first sudden death round of ten ends saw some surprising exits as teams captained by David McMahon of Luddenden Foot, Mick Walsh of Crossroads and Chris Lodge from Wharfemeadows all fell to determined opposition.

The quarter-finals, where the trio splits into a pair and a single brought out notable individual performances from Derek Senior and Derek Greenwood both winning by comfortable margins to ease their teams into the semi-finals.

The two semi-finals, taking place concurrently, brought out superb displays of bowling. Paul Fisher’s team from Luddenden Foot was matched against John Hartley’s Hebden Royd Park team.

In the singles game a stunning display of bowling from Gareth Swain, dominating his game from start to finish, left Derek Senior with little room, Gareth running out the winner 21-8.

In the pairs match Paul Fisher and Simon Conway took an early lead against John Hartley and John Simpson which they held on to and this saw them into the final.

In the other semi-final Heptonstall’s Derek Greenwood found the going hard against the accurate line and length of Alan Dickinson and in a game lasting over an hour eventually lost 21-14. His team-mates, Sandra Greenwood and Roger Greenwood were also beaten by an increasingly confident pairing of Harry Ashworth and Shaun Frewin.

This set up a final between Luddenden Foot and Hebden Royd Park, both teams incidentally past winners of the summer triples event hosted by Old Town.

In the singles match Gareth Swain matched Alan Dickinson point for point in the early stages whilst his team-mates Paul Fisher and Simon Conway battled it out with Harry Ashworth and Shaun Frewin with barely a point separating them.

At the ninth end Gareth, trailing 5-6 scored a pair which was to prove decisive. He set the next mark, led well and over the next eleven ends transformed the game with accurate corner bowling to establish a 20-8 lead.

At this stage the closely fought pairs game was still evenly balanced at 7-7 with neither side giving an inch and neither side scoring more than a single.

Unless Alan Dickinson could turn around the singles game victory was heading for Luddenden Foot.

Alan duly responded by securing two at the next end to make it 10-20 and with good woods at the next end looked like reducing the gap but Gareth replied with a toucher and scored the one point he needed for his team’s victory.

With the result determined the pairs game still continued in a highly competitive manner, each team stubbornly refusing to admit defeat.