YORKSHIRE Ladies snatched a dramatic 112-109 victory over Nottinghamshire in the quarter-finals of bowls' Atherley Trophy.

The White Rose ladies got off to a slow start at Thanet Road in York and were trailing 30-20 after five ends, then 66-42 after ten.

However, they came back well and, five ends later, they had reduced the arrears to three shots at 83-80.

This was reduced further to 95-93 with each rink having three ends to play.

Nottinghamshire pulled away again and it looked to be all over at 107-93, but again Yorkshire came back to book a tie against Norfolk on Saturday, March 15.

First to finish was Hollie Baxter, Carol Sarvent, Pat Walker and Helen Wood's team, who led 16-12 with five ends to play but only won one of them.

At a crucial time when Yorkshire were making inroads into the deficit, they only dropped a single on their last end to lose 20-17.

Next to finish were Kath Delacoe, Katie Baxter, Eva Dayes and Beryl Alderson, who led from the ninth end when they picked up a two to lead 7-6 and kept it to the end where they finished with a 20-17 victory.

Lynda Parker, Maureen Walker, Zoe Eagles and Helen Walker’s team turned their game round on the 19th end.

Walker, seven down, played the perfect wood and came away with a single then picked up a two on the next and a three on the last to seal a 17-15 win.

Lydia Cutmore, Jill Skinner, Jane Simpson and Linda Harrison’s team lost their game but only dropped a single on their last end to make their final score 21-10.

Hayley Macdonald, Sue Armstrong, Danni Martinson and Sue Allen then sealed a great comeback from 13-7 down after ten ends.

They picked up four shots on the last end to win 24-16 and level the aggregate scores at 109-109, with only Joan Jackson, Carol Banks, Melanie Brooke and Carol Instone to finish.

They had trailed 20-16 with five ends to play, but went into the last 21-20 ahead and laid three shots.

With the opposing skip still having one wood to play, she played it with weight and hit the pack but missed the three Yorkshire woods.

That gave Instone's rink a 24-20 victory and the lead for Yorkshire for the first time.

ENGLAND Under-25 international Adam Liddell won his U25s singles area play-off final against Darlington’s Noah Cummings at Hartlepool IBC 14-1 and 9-6.

The York bowler now plays in the last-16 of the National Finals at White Oak IBC in Kent on Saturday, January 24.

YORK IBC face an important few days as they play in the last-32 of three national competitions.

On Saturday, the ladies continue their campaign to hold on to the Yetton Trophy as they play Redcar at 10am.

On Sunday, the mixed team play Hartlepool in the Egham Trophy, also at 10am, then York’s ladies are in action again as they play Redcar in the Mason Trophy next Tuesday at noon.

Tomorrow, York 'B' complete their Yorkshire Over-55s League division two fixture against Huddersfield, starting at noon.

YORK'S New Year's Eve Pairs competition provided new winners in both the main trophy and the plate, with Ron Munro and Norman Ellis winning all their matches to lift the top prize.

They got off to a good start, with an 8-5 victory over Audrey Micklethwaite and Pat Potter.

In their second game, they beat Allan May and John Orchard 5-3, before sealing third place in the group by coming from 7-4 down to beat Mike Wadsworth and Jenny Bottomley 9-7.

In the semi-finals, they were up against John Cooper and Jean Carter, who won last year’s trophy and who had also gone through the league stage with a 100 per cent record.

With the score 3-2 to Munro and Ellis, a close game was expected but they took all but one of the remaining ends to finish 14-3 winners.

In the final they faced Gordon Fennell and Alan Yoward, who had just beaten John Micklethwaite and Brenda Love 8-6 after an extra end.

Fennell and Yoward picked up a three on the second end to lead 3-1, but were then hit by five losing ends to give the title to Munro and Ellis 9-3.

The plate final was also one-sided game after Bob Blackburn and Alan Potter led 8-0 after three ends against Ray Wynn and Mike Bottomley en route to an 11-4 triumph.