A LARGE crowd in attendance at Castle Sports & Social Club on Saturday witnessed a masterclass in short mark bowling.

The game’s current number one Callum Wraight romped to victory in the Castle Sports Classic and took the £1,000 first prize back to Shropshire.

In the first round Wraight made light work of the match-up of the last 16, easing to victory against Wayne Ditchfield 21-8.

The best game of the last 16 stage saw Stuart Kellett of Comberbach, urged on by a partisan crowd, mount a comeback against Matty Worden with Kellett eventually coming out on top 21-20.

In the second round Kellett came up against Wraight and despite some good early play and support from the locals Wraight used his short mark tactics to secure a 21-13 victory and progress to thethe last four.

In the bottom half another Comberbach player Matt Thurlwell was making his way through the draw and by securing good victories against Chris Ashton and Jack Bushell he set up a semi-final clash with Wraight.

Thurlwell made a promising start to the semi final and kept pace with Wraight up to 8-8. However, Wraight then went through the gears to secure his place in the final with a 21-9 victory.

With much of the attention of the crowd on games in the bottom half, Dave McDermott from Wirral was quietly making his way through the top half of the draw.

He received a bye through the last 16 stage as his opponent, Chris Fearnley, was unable to attend due to self-isolating.

McDermott, with some excellent play, secured victories against Dave Phillips 21-15 and Mark Ball 21-10 to set up a final with Wraight.

McDermott made the early running, taking an 8-4 lead before Wraight got into his stride.

Wraight was able to tie the scores at 10-10 before he went on a run of seven unanswered chalks in what was to be the defining stage of the final.

McDermott was only able to trouble the scorers on one more end as Wraight sealed victory and the cash with a 21-12 score.

Over in Winsford the qualifying rounds of the Wharton Cons Open continued towards the final day on August 29.

This week’s qualifiers were Dave Jackson and Alan Manuel, who secured their places in the final day’s play.

This Sunday’s session at 6pm will sees Joe Tomkinson and Martin Gerrard of Owley Wood in the field alongside David O’Brien of Castle Sports and the former Waterloo winner Jon Palmer from Birmingham.