THE TWO local qualifiers for the Yorkshire ABA Merit were Peter Clark and Richard Hargreaves after comfortable preliminary-round wins at Lund Park against Ian Bernard and Robbie Ellis respectively.

However, in the finals at Hove Edge WMC on Monday, both players struggled. Keighley's Hargreaves lost 21-17 in the first round after leading 17-13, while Clark won a round before losing quite comfortably to eventual runner-up James Wilcox of Crossgates.

After a great final, the winner was former Yorkshire star Richard Helliwell of Hebden Bridge.

Hargreaves also captained the Hebden Bridge team in the annual Yorkshire Parks Inter-City event held in the Barkston Ash area and, while not at full strength, they performed creditably.

They began by sharing the winners with the host team at Rothwell BC and won 7-5 overall. They then crossed the road to Rothwell Park, only to lose 10-2 to an average Sheffield side, before travelling to Garforth Rec BC to defeat arguably the worst team in the group, Heavy Woollen, 9-3 to finish second overall in their section.

Sheffield went on to the final where they lost to Leeds. For the locals, Trevor Hargreaves and Les Foster won all their games.

It was also a quick exit in the Yorkshire Parks Brotherton Cup for both Cross Roads sides, with the A team only having two winners against Pudsey A at West Bradford in the shape of Martin Benson and Peter Clark, while the B team recorded a similar result against Asa Briggs A at Royd House with two victories for Guy Barrie and Claire Lomax.

There was better news for Worth Valley Veterans in the Federation League at Elland C&BC where, on their second visit, they easily beat Doncaster and Halifax B by a double 9-1 scoreline to put themselves back in contention.

John Parkin and David Hemsley recorded single figure wins against Donny. Next games are on June 10 against Barnsley/Wath and Leeds B.

The Skipton Inter-District Veterans return to action tomorrow when they meet reigning champions Bradford with the home leg at Sutton and the away game at Peel Park (all 1.30pm). A much-needed better effort is required.

Tonight sees further matches in the Skipton team event for the Clarkson Cup with interesting derby matches between Silsden Playing Fields A and B at Silsden BC and Silsden BC v Steeton A at Addingham. Sutton B, Steeton B and Cross Hills C will be hoping for shock wins over higher opponents, while also in action are Sutton A, Cononley B and Keighley A.

Games in the Supplementary Cup also continue with several top teams in action, including Lund A, Cononley A and Cross Hills A. Next matches are on June 23 in both events.

Yorkshire ABA team events continue on Saturday (2.30pm), where Cross Roads meet Canalside B in the Yorkshire Cup and Broughton play Crosland Moor B at Littlemoor in the Henry Taylor Cup.

In mixed events, Devon play Rothwell at Hove Edge and Oxenhope meet The Hollies at Rufford Park in the Hutchinson Trophy. In the Radley Cup, Cross Hills meet Linthwaite Hall at the Shipley Club.

Next games on June 25.