BOWLS: Snell likes team spirit (From Swindon Advertiser)

BOWLS: Snell likes team spirit

5:50am Saturday 9th June 2012 in Sport

DAVE Snell’s reign as Wiltshire Middleton Cup team manager got off to the perfect start with a 50-shot victory over Dorset.

Wiltshire ran-out 135-85 victors at Wootton Bassett in their opening West Group Section B match, as they took the honours on five of the six rinks on their way to picking up 20 points out of a possible 22.

“It was an excellent result for us,” Snell said. “We would have taken a 16-6 result before we started so to get 20-2 was a real bonus.

“I say this because all six rinks were completely new combinations from last year and I was very proud that all the rinks put in battling performances combined with an excellent team spirit.”

Bassett duo of skips Michael Snell and Neil Smith both recorded very comfortable wins.

Mel Biggs’ rink held on for a one-shot victory on the last end, while Russell Francis’ quartet were 10-0 down after six ends but came back to win 20-19.

Mike Jackson suffered the only loss as he trailed his Dorset opponent throughout.

The following day Wiltshire men completed a fine weekend double at Wootton Bassett with a 39-35 Balcomb Trophy win over Worcestershire.

The rink skipped by Biggs pulled well away in the second-half of the tight match, and was able to compensate for Graham Shadwell’s foursome who struggled over the same period.

The men’s South Western Counties League side produced an excellent performance to complete a treble of county victories.

They ran-out comfortable winners, beating Dorset 123-96 to collect 18 points and only drop four in their opening SWCL match of the season away at Gillingham.

A trio of veterans from Westlecot pulled off a shock result in the quarter-finals of the county men’s national triples championship played on their own green in Old Town.

Joe Mazzotta, Michael Titcombe Snr and Mike Hall knocked out Holt, who were winners of the competition in 2010 and runners-up in last year’s final, 18-16.

And in another surprise result, last year’s champions from Westlecot skipped by Mel Biggs were also knocked-out.

In the other quarter-finals, Mike Jackson’s Westlecot triple thumped Alderbury 30-8 while another Wootton Bassett triple skipped by Hedley Bowen survived a late Downton revival for a 15-12 victory.

The four winners progress to the semi-finals at Chippenhan Town on Sunday, June 17.

• ALISON Fail and Linda Perfit made it a clean sweep for local clubs in the County Women’s National Two Wood Singles Championships played last week at Spencer Moulton.

They emerged victorious from the quarter-finals and semi-finals to reach the county final and book a place at Royal Leamington Spa as Wiltshire’s representatives in the two wood singles event in the National Ladies finals.

Purton’s Fail, a regular in the Wiltshire Johns Trophy squad, was in awesome form while Westlecot player Linda Perfitt was equally impressive.

In the bottom half of the quarter-final draw Fail thumped Sue Dix (Box) by 11 shots while Fizz Mace (North Wilts) comfortably beat fellow county player Sue Cooke (Box) 17-9.

In the semi-final Fail was in devastating form as she demolished Mace 19-0, the first time the North Wilts bowler had suffered such a fate.

Perfitt edged home 15-12 over Stratton’s Ellen Bolland in an all-Swindon clash, while in the other quarter-final Rosemary Keen (Devizes) recorded a five shot win over Bradford’s Rosie Boxall.

Then in the semi-final, Perfitt maintained her fine form to progress to the last two with a commanding 16-8 victory over Keen.

Fail and Perfitt will meet in the county national two wood singles final in Swindon at Town Gardens on July 21.

• WILTSHIRE Ladies produced a magnificent team performance last weekend in their first match of 2012 as they thrashed Somerset by 30 shots.

The game took place in the new look Johns Trophy, where this year the national inter-county championship will no longer be a straight knock-out competition, but will be played in a round robin group format initially to produce eight group winners.

Wiltshire made the perfect beginning to life in Section A of the West Group, as they thumped Somerset at home at Amesbury 124-94 and collected 20 points out of a possible 22.

The Moonraker County took the honours on five of the six rinks with Carol Grenfell’s foursome, which included Highworth’s Linda Kingston, recording the biggest victory with a 14 shot success over England international Steph Branfield and her team.

There were also healthy wins for the rinks skipped by Stratton Churchway’s Wendy Anderson and Devizes’ Marguerite Alexander.

Fizz Mace and Delia Godwin both weighed in with impressive displays to claim vital victories on the final ends of their matches.

Wiltshire now face Gloucestershire at Redland BC in Bristol on Saturday June 16. Their final group game is away to Warwickshire on June 30.