CARDIGAN postman Kevin James collected his third Ceredigion Bowling Association County Singles title when he defeated Aberystwyth rival and fellow postman Ian Pugh at New Quay.

Although the match was evenly contested over the first few ends, James soon put on the pressure and led by 14 shots to 5 after 10 ends.

James, a former British Isles and Welsh Singles champion, then increased the lead, and although Pugh rallied at the end James ran out as the winner by 21 shots to 10 - to win the title for the third time.

The home crowd was in good voice on Wednesday as local duo Neil Immins and Graham Rees took on Emlyn Dudley and Lewis Williams in the Senior Pairs final.

Although this was a keenly contested affair, the New Quay pair were always ahead and were leading by 13 shots to 9 at the eleventh end, only for the Lampeter duo to score 5 shots on the next end to go in the lead. The spoils were evenly shared over the remaining six ends, with Lampeter duo winning by 18 shots to 16.

Also, on Wednesday night, the New Quay trio of Dennis Thomas, Dave Rees, and John G Evans took on Roger Dimmack, Edward Sandford, and Brian Davies, Queen’s Road, in the Senior Triples.This was the first year for this competition to be held, and it turned out to be a one-sided affair for most of the match with the New Quay trio leading by 12 shots to 4 after eleven ends and were still leading by 15 shots to 7 after sixteen ends.

With only two ends remaining the Queen’s Road trio made valiant efforts to catch their opponents by scoring 3 shots on each of the last two ends. This was not enough and the New Quay trio held on to win by 15 shots to 13 to give the home club their first victory of the week.

On Thursday evening the youngsters took to the green in the Under 18 Singles Final. Established County player Harri Butten, Lampeter, took on Iwan Davies from the New Quay club. This proved to be an even affair for the early stages with Butten leading by 12 shots to 9 after eleven ends, only for Davies to score 12 shots with only 1 shot in reply to run out a comfortable winner by 21 shots to 13.

The Open Rinks final saw Aled Roberts, Emlyn Dudley, Emyr Thomas, and Nick Randell, of Lampeter, take on Kazi Lorenz, Andrew Wilson, Mike Williams, and Paul Edwards, from Cardigan.

The Lampeter quartet proved too strong for their opponents and were leading by 12 shots to 4 at the tenth end and by 19 shots to 6 at the fifteenth end eventually running out the winners by 24 shots to 14.

Also, on Thursday evening, Dennis Thomas and Dave Rees of New Quay were back in action when they were joined by Neil Immins and Graham Rees in the Senior Rinks Final against William Jones, John Powell, John Lewis, and Gareth Jones of the Tregaron club. Unfortunately, for the New Quay quartet, they were overwhelmed by their opponents, with Tregaron finally winning by 30 shots to 7.

On Friday, youngsters Harri Butten and Iwan Davies faced each other again in the Under 25 Singles final. This time Davies raced into a seven shot lead after five ends, before Butten got on the board, but Butten rallied hard to get on terms with his opponents and he levelled the scores at 18 shots each after twenty-three ends.

This set up an exciting climax, only for Davies to score a single and a brace on the next two ends to win by 21 shots to 18.

Lewis Williams, Lampeter, was also back in action when he took on Harry Harrison, New Quay, in the Senior Singles final. Williams proved too strong and was in control throughout the match and ran out the winner by 21 shots to 8.

In the Open Pairs final Kevin James, Cardigan, was joined by his brother Colin when they took on Terry West and Steve Entwistle, of Lampeter, which proved to be the closest match of the week.

Although the Lampeter duo were leading by 7 shots to 0 after six ends, the Cardigan duo, who had won the title three years in succession between 2013 and 2015, fought hard to get on level terms but were always two or three shots adrift.

The Lampeter pair were in the lead by 13 shots to 9 after eighteen ends when the Cardigan pair could only score a single on each of the last three ends leaving the Lampeter pair winners by 13 shots to 12.

The last final to be concluded was the Open Triples match between Arwel Jones, Rowland Salmon, and Ian Pugh, Aberystwyth, and the victorious trio from Wednesday night, Dennis Thomas, Dave Rees, and John G Evans of New Quay.

Although the scores were level at 3 each after five ends and 10 each after twelve ends the New Quay trio were in the lead by 17 shots to 11 after sixteen ends.

Things were to take a dramatic twist on the seventeenth end, however, when Pugh took out the only New Quay bowl in the head to score a six and to effectively level the scores going into the last end.

The Aberystwyth trio held their nerve to score a brace on the last end and win by 19 shots to 17 much to the disappointment of the home crowd, who must have thought another title was coming their way.

All of the winners will now represent Ceredigion at the National Finals at Llandrindod Wells between 11-18 August.