It's Childs play for the king of West Lindsey's indoor greens

After 11 battling ends, the score was locked at 9-9 with Copley tending to handicap himself with a bad first wood but recovering. Childs then built what seemed to be a commanding 17-9 lead, only to go off the boil, including one dreadful end when he conceded a four, and his rival fought back to level the score at 20-20.

On the deciding end, Copley again missed his first wood and when Childs responded by getting a wood right on the jack, he went on to land the title for the fourth year in a row.

Childs doubled up by also successfully defending his open pairs crown alongside Geoff Gray. They took on Ian Chappell and Bernard Featherstone in the final and if any of the spectators were hoping for a shock, they were disappointed as the reigning champions powered into a 15-1 lead before winning 23-4 after a reduced 14 ends.

Meanwhile Copley also suffered defeat in the Australian pairs final alongside Les Savage as they lost 19-12 to Wendy and Bob Baines. But he tasted deserved success in his third final of the day when teaming up with Savage and Merv Johnson to beat Brenda Allen, Susan Mawer and John Grooby 18-9 in the open triples.

Allen gained ample consolation by taking the ladies’ singles title. The final was a typical ‘game of two halves’ as Gayle Winsor surged into a 13-3 lead, only for Allen to stage a remarkable comeback, scoring 18 points without reply to win 21-13.