DARRYL Wright and Steve Clamp staged a late, late show to win the Youngs Brewery Open Doubles in the fading light at Greenhill Bowling Club.

The Colne pair beat Graham Pilkington and Kevin Taylor from Leyland 21-18 having stormed back from 18-13 down to take the £250 first place prize fund.

In a final that went on until well after 10pm, Pilkington and Taylor didn’t take the lead until the 26th end but then won the last six ends with scores of ones and twos to seal victory.

Allan Gregory, who organised the competition, was delighted to see the return of competitive bowling at the club following a three year absence.

And he is hoping that bowls competitions will now become a regular occurrence at Greenhill – although it may be next year until they return to the calendar.

“The weather was great and the club was packed, it was wonderful to host a bowling competition again,” said Gregory. “It was great to have a final that went right down to wire even if it did go on until after 10pm!”

The club are now hoping to attract sponsorship for future events following Youngs Brewery’s backing of this open doubles contest.

“I’ll speak to the club chairman about holding another event,” added Gregory. “While it might not be until next year, we are hopeful we can attract the sponsorship to hold two or three in the year.”

The finals day, which included eight pairs from across East Lancashire and beyond, was the culmination of a series of qualifying rounds held at Greenhill in the preceding weeks.

Wright and Clamp were pushed all the way in their quarter final clash, eventually beating Yorkshire pair Ian Holden and Keith Rudman 21-17.

Pilkington and Taylor’s path to the semi finals were more routine, beating Colin Crompton and Billy Gaskill from Accrington 21-12.

Joe Urmston and Stephen Harrison from Blackpool reached the last four with an emphatic 21-5 win against Peter Welman of Colne and home favourite Gary Evans from Burnley And the mixed pairing of Mark Holden from St Helen’s and Blackburn’s experienced Harry Hargrave completed the semi final line-up with a 21-14 win against Colne’s Alan Hanford and Glyn Shuttleworth.

In the first of the semi finals, Wright and Clamp edged past Urmston and Harrison 21-12.

The second semi final was a lot tighter, with Pilkington and Taylor seeing off Holden and Hargrave 21-17 to book their place in the final.

The final itself proved to be a cagey affair with it looking increasingly likely the Leyland pair would take the honours.

They dominated the early ends, and opened up a 18-13 lead to take them within three points of the doubles title.

But, much to the delight of the watching crowd, Wright and Clamp staged a fine fightback – scoring eight points without reply to take the honours.

Pilkington and Taylor picked up the £150 runners-up prize fund while losing semi finalists, Holden and Hargreaves and Urmston and Harrison picked up £100.

Losing quarter finals received £75.