EXETER St Thomas club veteran Henry Collins was at the heart of the action as an Exonia-dominated Section Four side regained the Coronation Cup after beating Section One 120-112 at Kings (Torquay).

In the semi-finals at Paignton, Exonia's Nick Berry (30-12) and Topsham's Gary Howland (24-16) led the 24-strong line-up to victory over Section Five 128-104 — and they carried their form into the afternoon's final to finish the day unbeaten.

Veteran: 88-year-old Henry Collins

Section One had beaten Section Three 127-99 in their semi-final at Paignton Torbay in the morning and, despite four winning rinks in the final, they were forced to bow down to the former champions.

It was a good team effort by Section Four, with all six rinks playing a part in the final day with Simon Read (Heavitree) and Exonia trio Mike Orchard and Ashley and Nick Berry taking centre stage along with Topsham's Grant Howland, John Brand, Allan Woodley and skip Gary Howland.

Heavitree's John Ashford, Frank Skidmore, Dave Joslin and Dave Oakey scored a five and two fours in the semi-final defeat of Mark Howard 25-12 and 88-year-old Collins led the way for Brian Baker (Chagford), John Hooper and Dave Veal (Exonia) by coming back from 16-18 down to defeat Tony Coombes (Bitton Park) 22-18. Rob Paxton had Frank Thomas (Heavitree) and Exonia clubmates Roger Binmore and Colin Mees on board for both matches, while clubmate and fellow skip John Young had Paul Stone (Exonia), Keith Chester (Topsham) and Dave Cox (Exonia) in his rink.

This Sunday's quarter-final line-up in the County Trophy will see Kings face Exonia at Newton Abbot (2pm), with Shaldon traveling to Crediton to face Culm Vale.

Bideford play North Down at Culm Vale and Teignmouth's Bitton Park will host the match between Madeira and Civil Service.

The semi-finals of the Exeter & District League singles for the Roy Kivell Cup will be played at Exonia on September 9. Dave Veal (Exonia) faces Norman Owen (Topsham) and in an all-Heavitree clash, three-time champion Dave Joslin will play John Ashford.

In the ladies' inter-club, Morchard Bishop missed out on a place in the Bowls Devon final after losing to Brixham 54-34. Marcia Mills lost to M Thomas 32-17 and Gillian Gunn was beaten by former international Wendy Barnard 22-17.