ST Mary’s A will once again get their hands on the Bury Amateur Billiards League Championship trophy after just one year without it. With two full weeks left in the league programme the Saints have a 10-point lead over their B team and have the luxury of a match in hand. After slipping up the week before at home to Dobbies S &SC, they came back in the reverse fixture to win 5-1.

St Mary’s B regained second place following a 6-0 whitewash over their nearest rivals, Seedfield Bowling Club, as they too reversed the defeat of the previous week.

At Dobbies, the home side got off to a disastrous start as J Garvey completely outplayed E Docker and allowed the visitors a 42-chalk lead. I Street had the opportunity in the second game to pull back some of the deficit, but a rearguard effort by G Farrington completely thwarted the home side, winning 125-124. Dobbies, however, claimed a consolation point from the pairs game, but not before the visitors had reached the target for the aggregate.

At St Mary’s, W Usher overcame the handicap advantage of B Ridley almost before the visitor had scored a single point. From that point onwards the game was never in doubt. In the second game P Dudley was in excellent form and opened up a commanding lead. D Samuels, however, closed the gap with a run of 31 but was unable to win the game as Dudley finished 125-118. Even the pairs game went in favour of the home side as the Richardson and Woolner partnership defeated Bennett and MacKay 125-93.