WILTSHIRE men’s hopes of success in the Liberty Trophy, inter-county indoor championship, are over for another season.

They were ended for the second successive season by Somerset as they were beaten by 28 shots at North Wilts last Saturday as they went down 129-101 in their first round match.

Wiltshire kept the game tight in the first half of the contest and at 12 ends across the board only trailed 68-63 as they led on two rinks and were tied on two of the other four.

However, Somerset, containing several Wiltshire outdoor bowlers, then increased the tempo and aided by several counts of four and a late six pulled away to a comfortable victory with the Moonraker county failing to register a single rink success.

Ian Jefferies’ all-Westlecot rink were involved in a tight game.

They trailed 7-4 at 10 ends but led 8-7 at 12 and 10-7 at 14. But at 18 ends were 15-10 down, however, they restored parity at 20 ends at 15-15 only then to drop a two on the last end.

Tom Walkley was also involved in a close match with the lead ebbing and flowing throughout against Chris Keating.

His Westlecot quartet led 6-4 at five ends, 14-13 at 10 but were tied 16-16 at 15. They were tied 19-19 at 19 ends but conceded a six on end 20 and finally lost by four shots.

Wayne Snook’s foursome just missed out also on a victory losing by a shot on the last end while Andy Moore had fought back from being 23-15 down at 18 ends to only lose by two shots on the last.

Neil Smith’s rink fought hard but was 6-3 down against Graham Shadwell at five ends and was never able to pull the match around and finally lost by 10 shots.

Last season the rink of youngsters from Five Rivers, Salisbury, were the success story winning both of their Liberty matches but this time around trailed throughout and lost 24-15.

The Somerset side containing seven players from the Clarrie Dunbar club who all have Wiltshire connections will now face in the last 16 Worcestershire who beat Gloucestershire 132-104.

RESULTS

Rink 1: Jordan Moody, David Leighfield, Tom Warner & Nick Revell (all Five Rivers) lost to Paul Bryant 15-24.

Rink 2: Dave Godwin, Nigel Price, Paul Macdonald & Andy Moore (all Christie Miller) lost to Terry Perkins 22-24.

Rink 3: Richard Hindley (FR), James Nobbs, Chris Cheesley & Neil Smith (all Westlecot) lost to Graham Shadwell 13-23.

Rink 4: Paul Kistle, John Thomas, Kyle Anderson & Tom Walkley (all W’lecot) lost to Chris Keating 21-25.

Rink 5: Steve Snook, John Buckland, Max Clark & Wayne Snook (all North Wilts) lost to Andy Colebrooke 15-16.

Rink 6: Kevin Embling, Tom Pittuck, Dave Snell & Ian Jefferies (all W’lecot) lost to Russell Francis 15-17.

Score: Wiltshire lost to Somerset 101-129.

n WILTSHIRE Ladies beat Dorset 119-95 in a county friendly played at North Wilts last Sunday afternoon.

They took the honours on three of the rinks and drew on another with Wendy Anderson's four recording the biggest winning margin of 19 shots with a 25-6 success.

RESULTS Rink 1: Barbara Shepheard lost to A White 17-23. Rink 2: Brenda Bowen beat M Musgrove 24-9. Rink 3: Janet Hardie beat V Ferguson 29-16. Rink 4: Joan Coleman lost to S Smith 7-24. Rink 5: Wendy Anderson beat L Johnson 25-6. Rink 6: Evelyn Tape drew with I Addison 17-17.

Score: Wiltshire beat Dorset 119-95.

n WESTLECOT men completed a hat-trick of wins this season in the East Region of the Wessex League with a 78-66 victory over Oxford City and County last Sunday.

They only took the honours on the two home rinks but kept the away ones tight for a 12 shots overall success and take 12 points out of a possible 16 to keep their place at the top of the east table.

At home at Westlecot Ian Jefferies’ foursome dominated their match leading 7-1 at five ends, 19-9 at 15, 25-12 at 18 before finally winning by 14 shots.

Alongside youngster Tom Pittuck, thrown in the deep end owing to late withdrawals and skipping in the Wessex for the first time, had a fine game. His rink just had the edge throughout with Pittuck leading them to a three shots success.

Away in Oxford Tom Walkley’s rink led all the way until the death.

They were 8-1 up at seven ends and led 13-7 at 15. But they never scored another shot and dropped a two on the 21st and last end to lose by two shots.

In sharp contrast alongside Chris Cheesley’s rink struggled and were 8-2 down at five ends, 16-6 at 10 and 18-11 adrift at 15. But fought back to cut their final deficit to only three shots.

With nine teams in the east group it is Westlecot’s turn to sit out the next round of games on the weekends of November 18 and 25.

RESULTS

Home - Rink 1: Brian Coles, Dave Vowles, Kevin Embling & Ian Jefferies beat Mark Hancock 27-13. Rink 2: John Wilson, Geoff Snowball, Terry Walton & Tom Pittuck beat Ron Moore 19-16. Away - Rink 2: Denis Holborow, Mike Titcombe, John Anderson & Tom Walkley lost to Chris Earl 13-15. Rink 3: Joe Mazzotta, Kevin Lee, Rod Holborow & Chris Cheesley lost to Mike Peterson 19-22.

Score: Westlecot beat Oxford C&C 78-66 and by 12pts-4.

OTHER SCORES East Region - Banbury 70 (4pts) Carterton 79 (12); Chipping Norton 69 (12) Rivermead 58 (4); Loddon Vale 59 (3) West Berks 74 (13).

EAST LEAGUE standings 1 Westlecot P3 W3 - 39pts; 2 Carterton P3 W2 - 31pts; 3 West Berks P3 W2 - 30pts; 4 Oxford & D P2 W2 - 25pts; 5 Chipping Norton P3 W2 - 25pts; 6 Oxford C&C P2 W1 - 16pts; 7 Loddon Vale P3 W0 - 11pts; 8 Banbury P2 W0 - 9pts; 9 Rivermead P3 W0 - 6pts.

NEXT FIXTURES Sunday November 18: Banbury v Chipping Norton; Oxford City & County v West Berks; Oxford & District v Carterton.

Westlecot bye.

Sunday November 25: Loddon Vale v Rivermead.