BOWLS: WESTMINSTER Park's Francis Penlington rose to the occasion in the climax of the Chester League season at Tattenhall on Saturday.
He was a convincing winner of the Chester Merit, beating Leo Jackson of Bache 21-11 in the final.
The preliminary round produced no real surprises, but the first round proper saw the elimination of last year's champion Kevin Whitlow (Hoole) by Peter Mitchell (Broughton and Bretton), who went on to bowl superbly all day to reach the quarter-final stage.
In the same half of the draw, Mark Jones (Rossett) made steady progress, taking out Steve Probert (Hawkesbury), a former champion, on his way to the semi-final.
But there was no holding Penlington in his march through the lower half of the draw, beating Doug Biddle (Westminster Park) and Mark Jones to take his place in the final.
In the upper half of the draw, local favourite Sheila Whitehouse (Tattenhall) made good progress before coming up against Jackson, who prevailed in a close match for a place in the semi-final.
Bryan Formstone (Gresford Village) played soundly throughout the day, also reaching the semi-final, before losing out to Jackson.
The final between Penlington and Jackson was closely fought to 11 chalks across, before Penlington found his length to perfection to take the title Meadow Bank, of Winsford, beat Hartford to win the Health Insurance Four-Man competition at Kingsley Institute last weekend.
