Worthington Durham County CIU Team Knockout Wingate won their way to the semi-finals when they visited Sherburn Village and edged through by 14 points.

The home side received 28 points start and this was extended by four when Peter McGowan won the first frame against Paul Harrison. Dean Jones then pulled Wingate level when, despite having to play off scratch because he was not registered for the Handicap Committee's ranking meeting, pulled out a great performance to beat Scott Mallaburn by thirty-two points.

Adrian Twist won a very tight frame against Dave Hammond of Wingate by one point but then John Bourne pushed Wingate into a thirty points lead with a win over Alan Greener. In the final frame the Sherburn captain, John Bower did everything within his power to close the gap and won by sixteen points but Jimmy Mason had done enough to take Wingate through by fourteen points.

Durham City received 63 points start of the visiting Willington but had this gap closed to 33 after wins from the visiting Arthur Goldsborough and Jeremy Martin. Brian Dunn pulled eight points back for Durham in the third but Willington captain, Tom Parkin made a win by fifty-two points to put his team ahead by eleven points going into the final frame. Michael Pratt, who by his own self-assessment has had a poor season, became the Durham hero when he found his old form and ran in a great frame to beat Gordon Parkin by 41 points.

Newton Aycliffe conceded 34 points to the visiting Wheatley Hill B, but after Richie Young won the first frame for them to level the scores, they were never headed. John Briddick played a captain's part for Newton Aycliffe with a 53 points win but then Dave Blyth and Ken Johnson fought back with wins for the visitors', which closed the gap to only nine points going into the final frame. Michael Hewitt got on to early in the frame and took Newton Aycliffe to the semi-final when he beat Tony Ellison.

Crook Belle Vue received 13 points start on their visit to Spennymoor B but a 12 points win in the first frame by Alan Clarke almost wiped these out. Micky Anderson proved devastating for the Moors in the second frame and ran in a 69 points victory to virtually end the visitors' hopes. Harold Lomax stemmed the flow by taking the third frame by eight points for Crook but Wayne Parry and Alan Rouell took the last two frames to complete Spennymoor's victory.

Results: Spennymoor B 290 Crook Belle Vue 219; Newton Aycliffe 319 Wheatley Hill B 260; Durham City 298 Willington 268; Sherburn Village 264 Wingate 278.

Worthington Durham County CIU Summer League

The race for the Player of the Year Trophy in all three divisions is close with only three matches left to play. The trophy is decided on the number of frames won, then, if equal, the least number lost and finally the number of points scored in all matches played.

The Top Ten players in the First Division are 1st Paul Biddle (Spennymoor A) played 15, won 15, lost 0, points scored 982; 2nd Paul Atkinson (Spennymoor A) 15, 14, 1, 948; 3rd Dave Walker (Wheatley Hill A) 14, 12, 2, 774; 4th John Griffin (Fishburn A) 15, 12, 3, 832; 5th Jeremy Martin (Willington) 15, 11, 4, 799; 6th Ronnie Peacock (Wheatley Hill A) 14, 10, 4, 794; 7th Paul Hickman (Shotton Palms) 15, 10, 5, 819; 8th Ronnie Pearson (Newhouse) 13, 9, 4, 655; 9th John Armstrong (Shotton Palms) 14, 9, 5, 720; 10th John Rooney senior (Witton Gilbert) 14, 9, 5, 696.

In the Second Division the Top Ten are 1st Mickey Anderson (Spennymoor B) 15, 12, 3, 863; 2nd Steven Armstrong (Crowtrees) 12, 11, 1, 850; 3rd Keith McLauchlan (Crowtrees) 15, 11, 4, 775; 4th Harold Lomax (Crook Belle Vue) 13, 10, 3, 704; 5th John Bourne (Wingate) 14, 10, 4, 827; 6th Sean Johnston (Crowtrees) 14, 10, 4, 695; 7th Walter Cornell (Stanley Central) 14, 10, 4, 689; 8th John Jackson (Meadowfield) 14, 10, 4, 660; 9th John Warriner (Crook Belle Vue) 15, 10, 5, 715; 10th Craig Hughes (Meadowfield) 14, 9, 5, 701.

Top ten in the Third Division are 1st Stephen Bennett (Coundon) 15, 14, 1, 840; 2nd Lawrence Jones (Leeholme A) 14, 13, 1, 805; 3rd Thomas Cairns (New Durham) 15, 12, 3, 822; 4th Glen Morton (Bearpark) 15, 12, 3, 806; 5th Frank Nicholson (Coundon) 12, 11, 1, 684; 6th Stuart Neil (Coundon) 13, 11, 2, 837; 7th Andy Donaldson (Bearpark) 14, 11, 3, 791; 8th Shaun Easter (Bearpark) 15, 11, 4, 778; 9th Doug Watson (Tow Law A) 13, 10, 3, 648; 10th Brian Birks (New Durham) 12, 9, 3, 623.

Kingsway Krugerrand Competition

The meeting of Dave Walker of Wheatley Hill and Jimmy Evans of Shotton Palms was eagerly awaited and attracted a good crowd to the Kingsway Club in Bishop Auckland as the pair had provided some very good matches in C.I.U. competitions. During the first frame the early play was careful safety but eventually Evans took advantage of some uncharacteristic errors from Walker and took the first frame at 56-32.

In the second frame Evans got in early and scored a classy 51 break. Walker struggled to get back into the frame but eventually gave up trying to recover points through snookers and went down by 71-34. The third frame totally epitomised Walker's inability to get going as he only managed to score three points and Evans won at 63-3.

On the other table, Dale Evans of Sacriston played Charlie Blake of Middleton-in-Teesdale with neither player ever finding their true form throughout. However it was Blake who always had the edge as he proved to be more reliable at taking some of his chances. Blake took the first frame at 62-23.

In the second frame Evans came more into the game but missed some good chances that he would normally have scored heavily from and Blake capitalised to take the frame at 50-39 after needing both pink and black. In the third frame Blake got away early with a 29 break and Evans was never able to recover and went down 62-8.

On Thursday at 7.30 p.m. in the Kingsway Club (above the Lightfoot Institute in Kingsway, Bishop Auckland) spectators are welcome free of charge to watch Mike Thornton of Darlington play George Chapman of Bishop Auckland, whilst Ian Renwick of Witton Gilbert will play John Bourne of Wingate on the other table.

Worthington Durham County CIU Team Plate

A fantastic fight back by John Griffin of Fishburn A against the visiting Paul Atkinson of Spennymoor A almost pulled his team into the semi-finals but eventually he was just beaten on the final black. In this final frame Spennymoor A had 74 points start but Griffin turned back the years and pulled out a vintage showing in which he knocked in breaks of 31 and 35 to lead 88-2 leaving Atkinson needing the last three balls to win the overall match. Atkinson took the blue and then potted a fantastic pink but missed the black, which wobbled four inches away from the corner pocket, leaving a very thin cut with the cue ball at the far end of the table. Griffin made a great effort but the ball stayed out leaving Atkinson a tap-in.

Fishburn A began the match with 53 points start but Michael Pratt won the first frame for the Moors by one hundred and five points. John Carter and Peter Davison then both won for Fishburn to cut the visiting lead to only fourteen points but Paul Biddle showed why he is unbeaten this season when he won by 60 points to set up the great final frame.

Wheatley Hill A were also involved in a deciding frame starting from behind when they visited Shotton Palms. The Hill received 27 points start but this was changed to a 51 points deficit after Paul Hickman won the first frame for the Palms. However Dave Walker came good for the visitors in the second and squared the match. John Worthington then put Wheatley Hill 11 points ahead only to see Jimmy Evans take the fourth and put Shotton 13 ahead. In the decider, the Hill's Jack Wright got on top of John Armstrong, overhauled the lead and then took his team to a 15 points victory.

Tow Law B received 30 points start from the visiting Stanley Central and extended this to 62 after Norman Plews won the first frame. The second frame was very tight with the Central's, Paul Thompson edging to a one point win. The third frame proved disastrous for the Lawyers when Jimmy Dufton hit very good form with a 32 break to move the visitors' into a five points lead.

Paul Chollerton was able to reduce this to two points. In the final frame Harry Grimes took Stanley to victory when he beat John Wilson on the final blue.

Results: Witton Gilbert 289 Coundon 239; Tow Law B 239 Stanley Central 266; Shotton Palms 243 Wheatley Hill A 258; Fishburn A 282 Spennymoor A 288.