YORK Indoor Bowls Club's ladies moved into the national last 16 of the Vivienne Trophy, where they will play Leicester next Thursday.

The duel was clinched after York conquered Cumbria 87-75 in the zone final, winning three rinks.

At Carlisle, Margaret Smith's team got off to a flier winning five of the first seven ends to lead 14-4 en route to a 26-19 success.

Pat Bracken's four were involved in a titanic tussle, deadlocked at 20-20 going into the last end, where the York ranks bagged the desired decisive single.

Ella Armitt's team, on home duty, were also involved in a tight match. Tied at 11-11 after 12 ends, they won seven of the remaining ends to take the game 22-14.

In the other rink, Anita Haw's team dropped an eight on the first end, and though they briefly rallied, they lost 22-18.

York A' moved to the top of the Yorkshire Over-55s first division for the first time this season with an excellent 75-62 win over Featherstone.

The win was mainly thanks to the away team of Frank Turner. After forging 9-1 ahead in six ends, by the 12th it was 9-7, but then a fantastic run brought them 16 shots from eight winning ends for a 26-9 victory.

In the other away rink, Eric Hodgson's team did well to win three of the last four ends, but that did not prevent a 19-11 loss.

At home, Fred Clayden's team led 14-2 after seven ends before clinching a 24-15 victory.

Peter Littlewood's team came from 10-3 down to level at 12-12 before ultimately losing 19-14.

David Stroughair sealed a second final appearance in three days, this time in the mixed fours at Selby IBC against Mick Crawshaw's Metrodome team.

Joined with brother John, Shirley Stacey and Maureen Walker, the latter a substitute for June Clayton, they started with a five en route to opening a 10-1 lead after six ends.

Crawshaw's four slowly clawed their way back to lead 17-16, but the York team responded immediately with a five of their own on the next end to underpin a mighty 21-20 triumph.

Frank Turner, joined with Paul Mooring and Mick Parker had no trouble in beating South Leeds' Alec Atkinson's team 22-11 at Ryedale IBC to reach the Over-50s triples national finals.

Meanwhile, Ryedale's Paul and Andy Humphreys overcame York's Kevin and Adam Liddell to reach the father and son pairs finals, winning 26-11 after countering from a 10-8 deficit after 12 ends.