This is intended to provide opportunity for Club bowlers to take part in keenly competitive matches, representing their Club and eventually their Area in a County-wide knockout Rinks Competition.

1.  The competition shall be called the County Top 4 (Inter Area) Competition and shall be carried out in compliance with the Bowls England Laws of the game.

2.  The competition shall be self financing and administration and organisation of the competition (subject to the conditions set out in succeeding paragraphs) shall be the responsibility of each of the four individual County Areas, up to the County Top 4 Final which will be the responsibility of the Assistant County Secretary.  Each Area Committee shall invite entries from clubs within their Area, fix and collect an appropriate competition entry fee, make a draw for, and publish, the competition rounds and dates for playing, collect and collate match results and arrange the Area Semi-Finals and Finals to be played on neutral greens, to be concluded in sufficient time for the County Top 4 Finals Day as published in the County Year Book and Calendar.  Areas may make such cash and trophy awards to Area winners and finalists as they see fit.

3.  Clubs may enter more than one rink.

4.   A selected rink may be changed in any round at the discretion of the Club, but in the event of a Club having entered more than one rink in the competition then no player will be allowed to play for more than one rink.

5.   No rink may include more than ONE County Badged player at any time.

6.   The County Top 4 Finals day will be held on a date and at a venue to be published.  Each of the Area Top 4 winning rinks will then compete for the County Top 4 title.  Semi Finals and Final to be played on the same day.  The Area providing the County Top 4 winning rink will receive the Tom Nicholds Cup to be held for one year, the Club supplying the winning rink shall receive a bannerette and the Club supplying the losing finalists will receive a plaque.  Players in the winning and losing rink will receive individual trophies.

7.   Venues for County Top 4 Finals Day will be arranged mutually between the Assistant County Secretary and the Area Secretary of the Area in which the venue is situated.  Choice of venue will be on a rotating basis, by Area, commencing in Area 4 in 1994 (inception of the competition), followed by Area 1 in 1995, Area 2 in 1996, Area 3 in 1997 et seq numerically.