CITY of Ely claimed their third National Indoor Fours title of the past four years in Nottingham last week. Greg Harlow, Nicky Brett, Andrew Ware and Chris Falkner claimed victory in the competition they won in 2004 and 2005, by defeating Folkstone 24-11

CITY of Ely claimed their third National Indoor Fours title of the past four years in Nottingham last week.

Greg Harlow, Nicky Brett, Andrew Ware and Chris Falkner claimed victory in the competition they won in 2004 and 2005, by defeating Folkstone 24-11 in the final.

The Ely bowlers dispatched North Walsham and Mid-Sufffolk, before coming through a tense quarter-final against Melton, they won 19-18.

The semi-final with home club Nottingham was a more straightforward affair, with Ely winning 21-3, and the job was completed with a convincing win over Folkstone's Kevin Fletcher, Colin Elson, Steve Wells and Gordon Charlton.

Harlow, who played at No.3, said: "We were all at the top of our game and four out of the five matches were convincingly. The quarter-final was close, but that was purely down to the form of Les Gillett, who was outstanding. Everything seems to keep going well for us in the fours and we are delighted to win it for a third time in four years."

City of Ely were dumped out of the second round of the triples, where former World No 1 Harlow and current England No 1 Brett teamed up with a fellow England international Mark Smith, and lost 17-14 to Blackpool Newton Hall.

Harlow was knocked out in the first round of the singles by Craig Doherty, who went on to win the title.