NEIL Smith just missed out on making a successful defence of his planetbowls.com Ipswich Open Singles title last Sunday.

The Westlecot indoor bowler and 2014 Ipswich champion lost on the last end of a tie-breaker in the semi-finals to Dave Attwood.

Smith went down 1-2 (4-8 7-5 1-2) to Huntingdon’s Attwood, who went on to win the final 2-0 against home player Martin Heitzman.

Smith did have the consolation of collecting £200 prize money for his efforts and moving from tenth to fifth in the planetbowls rankings list, virtually securing his place in the top 32 and Grand Prix play-offs, where he finished as runner-up in 2014.

At Ipswich, Smith drew Wayne Willgress (Norfolk), who he beat in the 2014 final 2-1 (6-7 6-5 2-1), in this year’s first round and took the honours on a tie breaker again winning 2-1 (4-5 8-3 2-1).

He followed up with a win over Robert Greenwood (unattached) 2-1 (6-5 4-9 2-1) and his third 2-1 success of the day came in round three over local player Dom Warren (Ipswich) 4-9 9-1 and 2-1.

In the quarter-finals Smith edged home again with a 2-1 victory (3-7 4-3 2-1) over Richard Summers (Norfolk) before his defeat to Attwood.

Prior to the Ipswich tournament, Smith was at Stanley (Co. Durham) as a member of the England squad competing in the British Isles Indoor Bowls Council International Series for the Hilton Trophy.

The Westlecot player sat on the bench for the series, as England pipped Scotland for the title after wins over Ireland and Wales.

Smith said: “Obviously I was disappointed not to get a game again, I thought I would in the Scotland game, all the players wanted me in but selectors didn't.

“It was a great performance by the team, we had to make sure we lost by 17 or less if we were to lose.

“At one stage it looked bad 25 shots down but in the last hour it was a great comeback to get it back to five and win the series, and still good to be part of a winning team.’’ He added: “Ipswich was good after three days watching (from subs bench in Stanley) I was ready for a game.

“I didn't play great but pleased to win so many games from difficult positions and happy with a semi, now looking forward to the North Wilts Open this weekend.’’

Eleven players from Westlecot will be competing this weekend in the second North Wilts Open Singles tournament, part of the planetbowls.com series.

A top-class field is headed by world number two Robert Paxton, a recent double winner in the men’s and mixed pairs at the world championships at Potters (Norfolk), as well as the top six in the current planetbowls rankings and 15 tournament winners over the past 15 months.

First on the green this morning (Saturday) at 9am in the preliminary round were Neil Smith against Steve Remington (Christie Miller) while Katy Smith faced Jamie Curtis (Welford-on-Avon).

John Anderson competes in the first round at 10.30am and faces Steve Tuohy (Egham), the current leader in the planetbowls rankings, with a bounty of £50 on offer if he can topple the rankings leader.

On the next rink alongside Anderson will be Graham Hatherall who meets the winner of the Katy Smith/ Jamie Curtis prelim match.

Ian Jefferies plays at noon in the first round against Helen Tuohy (Egham) while Ian Farragher meets Welford’s Martin Timms and veteran Dave Snell faces Bristol’s Reg Birmingham at 3pm.

The next first round session at 4.30pm sees Keith Williamson face local player and England triallist Sue Cooke, Kyle Anderson play last week’s Bristol tournament runner-up Norman Coad (Bodmin) and Craig Hatherall meet Chris Easton (Christie Miller, Melksham).

Second round matches follow from 6pm while the final six first-round matches are scheduled for early Sunday morning.

One of these features Gary Jackson against former North Wilts player Steve Snook (Christie Miller) who has just qualified for the latter stages in the generation pairs with his son Wayne Snook in late April at Ely IBC.

A prize of £1,000 is up for grabs for the winner and play begins at 9am today and ends at 7.30pm. It restarts tomorrow morning at 8.30am with final scheduled for 5.30pm.