TEN Pin bowling star John Wilmshurst has helped the Worcestershire Junior (U18s) team to their best ever place in the NAYBC County Championships.

Twenty-nine teams took part in the event at Nottingham with the top eight counties going through to the knockout stages. Worcestershire had not qualified for the knockout stages before but finished in seventh position after all the five-man teams had bowled their first seven games.

Worcestershire defeated Surrey (975-851) in the quarter-finals, Sussex (956-937) in the semi-finals but were beaten by Yorkshire (979-953) in the final.

John, aged 17, of Macaulay Rise, Malvern, played in five of the seven qualification games and all the knockout stage games to finish with a whole tournament pin average of 188.13 with a highest single game total of 253.