Bowls : SIXTEEN of the top teams in the UK are chasing over £10,000 prize money in a four-day Easter Bowls Festival at the Darlington Morrison Centre.

Nearly 200 players are currently competing in the prestigious Famous Grouse Top Ten Classic 2002 - which began yesterday - in a series of 192 two-hour matches, involving singles, pairs, triples and fours events that demand the very best form and consistency from the star-studded field.

Every point and every shot will be aggregated over the four days towards the Famous Grouse team championship, which was won in some style last year by County Antrim Indoor Bowlers from Northern Ireland.

Teams who have qualified for the Festival Classic Finals after winning their regional qualifying matches include: Spading (Lincolnshiure), Victory (Portsmouth), Cambridge Park (Middlesex); Falcon (Essex), Exonia (Devon), Bristol (Somerset), Kingsthorpe (Northants), Blackpool (Lancashire), East Dorset (Christchurch), County Antrim (Northern ireland), Folkstone (Kent), York, Belfast, Brandon (Suffolk), Coatbridge Glasgow and Eldon (Newcastle).

The star players include Ian Bond, an established England international who has won the EIBANational Singles title, the World Professional Championship and the 2001BUPA TV Singles Championship, East Doreswet's Dean Morgan, who has been selected for this year's Commonwealth Games, and the British Isles pairs champions, Ron Richardson and Colin Davidson.

Joe Burrows, chairman of Darlington Indoor Bowls Club, said: "The Famous Grouse Top Ten is a real winner and attracts the best bowlers every year.

"I am certain that the level of competition will be very high, very demanding, very entertaining and so very worthwhile."

Admission is free on each of the four days and play takes place from 10am until 10pm.

* The 30th Hartlepool Masters Invitation Pairs tournament will start at 10am today, when 32 teams will take part in the three-day event. The first two days of competition will be a round robin format, with the last eight pairs lining up at 9am on Monday for the knock-out quarter-finals.

The last eight are assured of an invitation to compete the following year and the current qualifying list includes no fewer than five home pairs.

Qualifying are: Dave Axon and Marc Wyatt (Wales), holders; Carl Higgins and Paul Hartle (Hartlepool), beaten finalists; Hartlepool's John Mansfield and John Wells, Barry Playfor and Terry Barnes, Dave Fenwick and Ian Marshall, and Dave Kilner and Glenn Skipp, who will be joined by Dave Christie and Brian Robson (Durham), and Chris Smith and Christopher Blake (Wales).

The 13 invited pairs include a sprinkling of internationals as well as a number of well-known Northern Counties bowlers.

The entries are: J McDowell, J Ross (Ireland); D Faulds, J Gilmartin (Paisley); J Walker, S Vigrow (Dundee); D Carter, D Naughton (Wymondham Dell); T Taylor, R Gass (Cumbria); S McIntosh, A Lawton (Hebburn); B Houghton, R Dougall (Concordia); S land, W Condron (Spennymoor); D Morgan, D Bolt (Sunderland); R Metcalfe/J Palmer (Great Aycliffe); B Poulter, R Pape (Gateshead), M Beattie, K Hooker (Tynedale); C Palmer, J Leeman (Stanley).

* On the second Sunday in April all roads from Devon and Durham will lead to Melton Mowbray, when these distant rivals meet in the final of the All England Inter-County Championship for the Liberty Trophy.

Durham cannot afford to under-estimate the opposition, who, like themselves, have a backbone of international competitors and a keen tussle is anticipated. A morning "appetiser" to the Liberty Final will be the National Under-25 Double Rinks County Final between Durham and Kent