There was quite an upset in the Worth Valley’s Harrison Mixed Pairs at Craven when sponsor Carol Harrison teamed up with top veteran Maurice Haley, of Denholme, to snatch the title by defeating odds-on favourites John Hamer and Pam Robinson, of Lund Park, 21-16.

Losing in the semis were Joanne Ellis and Daryll Gore, and Bev Guffick and Sean Picken, both in close matches.

Skipton Veterans inflicted a big win over visitors Castleford in the home leg at Craven, with Cliff Taylor, Kevin Burnett and Len Buxton producing excellent victories. Sadly this result was tempered by the away scores from Pontefract where only Trevor Hargreaves and John Parkin gained success.

The overall score was 29-27 to the locals, which almost extinguishes their chances. With one game to go, Bradford look like the likely winners. Skipton play Wakefield on July 31 to round off their campaign.

There was disappointment and joy in Yorkshire team events for two local clubs. In the Henry Taylor Cup, Cross Roads met Hanging Heaton at Wayside BC, Harrogate, but could not cope with the very fast green which suited their rivals. They were well beaten by over 20 points, with their four winners being Phil Anderson, Alan Thornber, Richard Dunhill and David Cadwallader.

Devon caused a small surprise by beating Brighouse in the Hutchinson Cup at Crowghyll Park, Shipley, where they shared the winners but won by nine points thanks to good efforts by Faye Ellis and Martin Lee. The semi-final beckons against Pudsey on August 1.

Faye’s brother Robbie did well to reach the semi-final of the Sigsworth Mixed Pairs with Sophie Brown, of Huddersfield, only to lose to eventual winners Dawn Bray and Graeme Higgins, of Wakefield, at Heckmondwike. They still qualified for the British Finals at Elland on October 3.

Yorkshire Parks Veterans team had the expected easy win over Cheshire with local victories for Mick Bastow and Barry Turnbull at home and David Hemsley in the away match in Stockport.

The venues for the Skipton KO team finals next Thursday have been announced. Sutton A meet Settle A in the Clarkson Cup while the Supplementary Cup final between Gargrave A and Craven A is at Colne Legion.

Preliminaries in the Skipton Merit are tonight at Keighley, Silsden PF and on both greens at Lund Park at 6.45pm. The final is on August 9.

Worth Valley Vets return to Elland Cricket for two further matches in the Federations Over-60s event tomorrow, where they hope to rectify the bad defeats on the last visit. It will be very hard again as they meet Halifax A and Leeds B, starting at 10.30am.

Worth Valley/ Skipton Juniors are back in action on Saturday night in the Yorkshire ABA’s Junior League against Huddersfield C.

Skipton will be hoping for a similar result in the Yorkshire ABA’s Inter-District event on Sunday when they play qualifying games against Aire-Wharfe and Castleford at Crowghyll Park (10am). If successful, they play the semi-final at Drighlington Park and the final at Littlemoor BC later in the day. The Bradford area are hosting this event and the locals hope to reach the final like last season, when they lost to Huddersfield.

The Worth Valley district team meet old rivals South Lancashire on Sunday at 2pm. The team are in danger of the drop but hope for better things with the home leg at Whinfield, while the away team travel to the Gardeners Arms at Atherton.