Dominant show sees Bannister cruise into final

The Wednesfield Conservatives ace restricted Dartmouth’s Piddock to just one pot as he cruised to victory in three frames.

He will face Bloxwich Memorial’s Alan Hathaway in the final after the latter came through a much tighter semi-final against Rushall’s Darren Westwood.

Hathaway was pegged back twice before holding his nerve to win the deciding frame for a 3-2 victory.

Bannister was also on song as he and clubmate Lee Thomson reached the final of the Pairs and Singles Handicap, overturning a 138-point deficit over the course of four frames to beat Darlaston Conservatives Paul Pugh and John Bowker.

It wasn’t all great news for Wednesfield, who saw Andrew Price knocked out of the Individual Championship at the quarter-final stage with a 4-1 defeat to Riley Parsons.

Price took the first frame but from then on Parsons dominated, rattling in breaks of 58 and 43 on his way to victory.

In the league, Landywood A strengthened their grip on the Premier Division with a 5-0 win away at Poet’s Corner B.

The victory, coupled with a 3-2 home defeat for second-placed Pelsall Social A to Poet’s Corner A, means the reigning champions now have a five-point lead at the top and appear well on course to defend their title.

At the other end of the table, Old Hall A are now 12 points from safety after they were beaten 4-1 at Bloxwich Memorial A.

Division One leaders Landywood C survived a scare at relegation-threatened Bloxwich Sports B to keep their place at the top of the standings.

Wins for George Beale and Kelton Scott saw the strugglers fly into a 2-0 lead, but Landywood held their nerve, fighting back to win 3-2 as Dave Turner, Andy Sheffield and Andy Whitehall, in the decider, all claimed victories.

Third-placed Bentley Moor B kept promotion hopes alive with a 3-2 win at The Amery Club, Dean Cattell winning the deciding frame, while it was Poet’s Corner C who emerged triumphant from a key battle at the bottom, beating Pelsall Social B 4-1.

Dartmouth continue to keep Division Two leaders Poet’s Corner D honest as they narrowed the gap at the top to four points, courtesy of a 4-1 win at Lichfield Road.

That followed a 3-2 win for Poet’s Corner at Beechdale Social where, at one stage, they looked on course for defeat before Rash Bains cleared the colours to level at 2-2 and force a decider, won by skipper Mark Poole.