YORKSHIRE won the Veterans Champion County competition for the first time with a Roses success against Lancashire at Todmorden.

After winning all their round robin matches and defeating South Yorkshire Parks in the semi-finals, Yorkshire beat Lancashire 144-134 in the showpiece to take the trophy and £300 prize.

Captained by Golcar Lib’s Frank Greenwood, Yorkshire’s closest match was the final.

On a 'seriously fast green, after the first four jacks Yorkshire were 12 points behind, however the last four players responded magnificently.

Showing the class we have come to expect from the county vets, whose previous best in this event was a final loss to Cheshire in 2003, they produced some special bowling and no-one was more outstanding than Huddersfield’s Ronnie Wormald.

He won all his five matches on the day with an average of plus seven.

In the round robin, Yorkshire beat Staffordshire 160-130, Shropshire 161-124 and Greater Manchester 165-136.

Playing in those round matches were Roger Crowther, Frank Greenwood (captain) and Paul Hillam as part of the 11-man squad, while Eddie Haigh declared himself unfit and was unable to play.

In the semi against South Yorkshire Parks, Richard Bentley went down 21-13 but there were wins for Roy Nicholson 21-19, Brian Jenkins 21-15, Frank Griffin 21-8, Dave Scott 21-15, Wormald 21-14, Allan Thompson 21-11 and Mick Smith 21-13 as Yorkshire won 170-116.

The same team went on to the final against Lancashire, with a mixture of results for Huddersfield bowlers.

Roy Nicholson went down to 10, Brian Jenkins to 13 and Mick Smith to 16, but there were wins for Griffin 21-15, Bentley 21-20, Wormald 21-11, Thompson 21-14 and Dave Scott 21-11.

Team manager was Norris Briggs, who was thanked by all the team.