Rebecca Field from the Norfolk Bowls Club in Norwich won the World Tour Women's Matchplay title in 2013, since when she has lost in the final twice - in 2014 and 2016.

Her big rival, Ipswich ace Katherine Rednall, has won the title twice, in 2014 and 2017, and was runner-up in 2015.

No wonder the event is called the Field and Rednall Show, and, after the weekend's activities at the Potters Resort in Hopton, the two young stars - Field is 28, and Rednall celebrated her 22nd birthday two weeks ago - stayed on course to meet in this year's final - just as they did in 2014.

Rednall's 10-5, 8-4 win over Scotland's Julie Forrest was not as straightforward as it sounds - though the Suffolk star did show good form.

Forrest sped into a 4-0 lead after two ends, getting the best out of her opponent, who replied with a 3-2-1-1 sequence to lead 7-4 before winning with a treble on the eighth end.

Forrest excelled in the low-scoring second set, leading for the first seven ends, but Rednall levelled with a single on the eighth end and broke a 4-4 deadlock with a full house of four shots on the ninth.

On Saturday evening Field found Ireland's 20-year-old sensation Chloe Watson a tough nut to crack and her 6-5, 9-7 straight sets victory hardly tells the whole story.

The Norfolk star scored a single on the last end of the first set and won the second with two successive singles on the eighth and ninth ends.

A rare slip-up on the part of one of the excellent match officials, who moved a bowl before applying the measure, caused uproar in the spectators' gallery and Field sportingly offered to replay the end, but it was decided that the laws of the sport had been followed meticulously.

In the semi finals, which are scheduled for Wednesday, Field will play Janice Gower from Blackpool, who defeated her close friend Ali Merrien from Guernsey 6-6, 8-5.

Lesley Doig from East Fife, who was runner up in the Women's World Outdoor Singles Championship in Christchurch in 2016, defeated Australia's Young Player of the Year Ellen Ryan 7-8, 8-5, 2-0, and set up a semi-final encounter with defending champion Rednall.