THE heat was on for the finals of the Widnes & District Pensioners' League's Fred Jones Trophies - for Division One and Division Two - and Division Three's Charles Saywell Trophy.
All three were played to a finish at the Ring O'Bells Hotel in stifling temperatures.
The culmination to the top-flight competition was an anti-climax with Danny Whitfield getting a walkover and John Rennison being too strong for Dave Smetham.
The final was also one-sided with Rennison returning to his old form to win comfortably 21-10.
Division Two saw Ronnie Elliott edge past favourite Tommy Baynham at the last-four stage after adapting better to the conditions.
Baynham had taken a 12-8 advantage but Elliott soon established superiority and ran out a 21-17 winner.
The other semi saw the best bowling of the day by Bill Smith, who over-powered Tommy McMahon 21-13.
However, in the final, Smith could not reproduce this form and Elliott triumphed 21-16.
Division Three was closer. Trevor Forber overcame Dave Byrne 21-19 in a game which never had more than a couple of chalks in it.
These took him from 15-14 in front to 19-14. Byrne fought back to within one chalk at the 21st.
However at 20-19, Forber was not to be denied and clinched victory from an exhilarating contest.
In the other semi-final, Tommy Garrity always had an upper hand over Bill Gray despite losing three ends late in the game.
Having pulled back from 13-18 adrift to 17-18, Gray could not capitalise as Garrity won the next two ends for a 21-17 win. The final was once again one-sided. Early spoils were shared but from 10-8 in front, Garrity won eight ends on the spin to lead 20-8 and never looked back.
