Bowls competitions are reaching the business end of the season.

The County semi finals were held at Hatfield with Peter Thomson, Alan Charran and Matt Pope of Townsend up against a trio from Baldock.

And with a place in the National Championships at Leamington Spa up for grabs, the match needed an extra end after the allotted 18 finished 12-12.

Baldock managed to score the winning point to take the county crown and head to bowls HQ.

Townsend's Rena Williamson, Jane Dixon, Peter Thomson and Alan Charran, won through to the semi finals of the St Albans & District mixed fours with a very impressive 27-11 victory against a strong WGC team.

The defending champions were 14-2 up at the half way stage and kept the pressure on until the visitors conceded with two ends to go.

The two midweek friendlies brought very tight scoring.

Townsend's first visit to Radlett for the first time in seven years ended with two of the three triples rinks ending all square.

Gordon Clapworthy, Les Perkins and Andy Scarborough broke the tie with a 23-12 rink success.

A challenging green at Clarence Park saw St Albans welcomed four Townsend triples, and the home team had the better of the first two matches, with wins by six and one shot.

But the third rink result went Townsend's way, clawing back three shots, but the final rink of Richard Morgan, Brian Connelly and Bob Padget secured the other four, leaving the contest overall in an honourable 57-57 draw.

Top rink for St Albans was Carole Ewer, Brenda Pitkin and Bob Pomeroy.

Saints' ladies were defeated in their District Rinks League fixture at home to Potters Bar.

On a heavy green following torrential rain the day before, one of the St Albans teams was well ahead at the half way point but were overhauled to lose 17-15, and the other lost 20-7.

The weekend fixtures were both lost by small margins.

Saturday's match at home to Cheshunt was played across six rinks, with both teams winning three, but the visitors took a 100-94 win.

Top rink for St Albans was Eileen Englebright, Rod Perks and skip Bob Pomeroy.

Sunday's match at Kings Langley was even closer.

Again it was played over six rinks and again both teams won on three, however, the hosts won this one 100-97.

Ian Woodcock, Roy Andrews and John Harvey took the top honours this time with a 23-8 victory.

Batchwood Hall have been enjoying plenty of successes in the district competitions.

Their men played in the SADBA Bob Vise Trophy and advanced to the semi-final with a win against Welwyn Garden City.

They took the honours in the singles, pairs and fours, losing only the triples, to set up a clash with Hemel Hempstead.

In the two-wood triples, the Batchwood team of John Turkentine, Jerry Mc Auliffe and Mark Trembling beat North Mymms 16-15 while Turkentine also lead his team of Eddy Thackeray and Chris Kelly to victory in the District triples first round, beating Hemel 17-6.

And he also claimed individual victory by beating Grant Gray of Hatfield 21-11 in the District championship singles.

He now moves into the third round.

The ladies also had early success in the District singles competitions with Jackie Bell beating Diane Jewell of Potters Bar 21-17.

Bell then went on to win in the Officers Singles, a 21-17 success against North Mymms' Karen King, putting her through to the semi-finals.

She then teamed up with Yvonne McAuliffe in the District pairs to beat another Batchwood pair, putting them into the quarter-finals against North Mymms.

The Stockman & Winser Mixed Fours saw the Batchwood team, skipped by Dave Gauthier and containing Eddie Clark, Jenny Gauthier and Sandra Clark, reach the last four with an 1808 win over Hemel Hempstead.

In the ladies' District Rinks League, there was a 31-31 draw at Kings Langley, a 22-12 rink win cancelled out by a 19-9 loss.

They also played North Mymms at home, winning 31-28 after a 15-12 win on one of the two rinks.

Two mixed friendly games saw Batchwood win on all four rinks and 28 shots overall away to Hemel Hempstead.

Three of the four rinks and the victory overall went to Batchwood as they won at Harpenden.