Carpenter chips away to book place in finals

BOWLS: DAVID Carpenter, the 1997 champion, became the fifth former winner of the Oldham Evening Chronicle Bowling Handicap to book his place in this year's finals.

The Delph player will line up with seven other hopefuls at Royton on July 7 (6.30pm) after winning the rearranged qualifier at Moorside last night.

But he had to do it the hard way, surviving two 21-20 showdowns on his way to qualification.

His first close shave came against Nimble Nook's Steve Mellor and he followed that up with another verdict by the minimum margin against 2010 champion Gary Coverdale (North Chadderton).

Having overcome those two obstacles, Carpenter defeated John Ashton (North Chadderton), who had registered his own 21-20 victory in the first round against Springhead's Paul Roberts before following up with a 21-13 defeat of Dave O'Brien (Springbank).