Tasty ties beckoning at Merit finals night

GUNNING FOR VICTORY . . . Nimble Nook's Matt Gillies

GREATER Manchester's most prestigious competition stages its finals day tomorrow.

Royton Cricket and Bowling Club is the venue for the finals of the GM Merit, starting at 11am.

The winner will book a place in the Champion of Champions' event in Blackpool in the autumn, while the four semi-finalists will take part in next month's All-England Merit.

The preliminary round features a fascinating clash between Nimble Nook and Tonge stars Gary Ellis and Darren Griffiths.

PLAYERS

Other local players in action are Lee Schofield (North Chadderton), Jimmy Hynes and Paul Heap (Springbank), and Tim Holt, Colin Lane and and Matt Gillies (Nimble Nook).

Draw -

Preliminary round: Phil Barlow v Schofield; Graham Law v Mark Bennett; Ellis v Griffiths; Darren Porter v Dave Thomas; Curtis Mellor v Andy Proctor; Dean Ferris v Keith Lackford.

First round: Paul Dudley v Adam Rushton; Andy Lowe v Dave Wright; Holt v Gillies; Andy Raymond v Heap; Hynes v Lane.

THERE is lots of local interest in the latest heats of the £3,400 Coors Molson Classic at North Chadderton Social and Bowling Club tonight (6.30pm).

Matt Gillies, Darren Griffiths, Ged Smedley, Jimmy Hynes and Peter Guilfoyle are on a bill which also includes last week's Dobbies Classic winner Simon Coupe (Preston) and former Green Final Handicap champion Dene Hibbert (Ashton).

The other contenders are Mark Sutton, Paul Leah, Dave Watters, Craig Newton, Steven Gilroy, Graham Law, Peter Kostyk, Paul Mottram and Paul Dudley.

n?TONGE enhanced their Manchester Premier League title claims with a 10.5-3 (144-133) victory at the Lloyd Hotel, Chorlton.

Winners for Tonge were Nicky Brooks (21-12), Gary Ellis (21-17), Matt Gillies (21-9), Donny Wilkinson (21-17) and Darren Griffiths (21-15).

FIXTURE

Tonge have no game next week.

Their next fixture is at home to fellow title aspirants Sale XL on Wednesday week (7.30pm).

n?NIMBLE Nook's Barry Sevile fared best of the Oldham contingent in the Greater Manchester Veterans' Merit at Springbank.

He lost 21-15 in the quarter-finals to Hyde's Tommy Heyes, who went on to win the competition with a 21-13 final verdict against Rochdale's Barry Collinge.

n?GREATER Manchester Parks continue the defence of their British title with a fixture against Yorkshire on Sunday (2pm).

The home venue is the Lloyd Hotel, Cholrton, while the away team travel to Brighouse Sports and Social Club.

Tonge's Nigel Greenhalgh and Springbank's Ged Smedley are in action at Chorlton, while Nimble Nook's Tim Holt and Tonge's Nicky Brooks will play at Brighouse.