Big two are all set for titanic final contest

THE Ridley League's big two are on a cup collision course again. North favourites Rayne Cock and South top dogs Galleywood Eagle won through from last week's play-offs to contest the Guinness Fours final on July 17.

The Cock got off to a flier at Felsted Chequers. Steve Prow took the first leg against the White Horse with a 113 finish, then showed himself equally adept with the scruffy shots, hitting the clinching double one just as the Chelmsford side had left a second-leg double.

Mill Green Cricketers won through after a see-saw battle against the Black Horse, who lost their impetus as the match wore on. Lee Bright and Natalie Potts dug in with some solid scores for the Horse, but their opponents lasted the course better.

With Matt Atkinson stepping down to give Tony Hird an outing, the Cock started the final confidently, and were good value for the first leg. But their slowness to get off the mark in the second handed the initiative to the Cricketers, who opened up a 400-points gap which even a belated burst of five tons by Prow and Hird couldn't quite close.

However, that was effectively it, and the North Section side reasserted themselves to clinch a place on stage at Chelmsford Social Club.

The powerful Eagle four didn't have things all their own way at Hatfield Peverel, dropping a leg to the Black Lion in their preliminary match. Then, having seen off the Chequers challenge, they were forced to a decider by South Section rivals Social Club before earning their final ticket.

- THE final week of league fixtures confronts North Section front-runners Rayne Cock (home to the Retreat) and Dunmow Cricketers (home to arch-rivals Flitch Snooker) with one major challenge apiece to determine the divisional honours. The Eagle's South Section trip to Mill Green, by contrast, is likely to be a stress-free crowning as champions.