WESTLECOT have endured an extremely disappointing indoor season during the winter months on both the individual and team fronts.

Out of the 38 national indoor championship and competitions during the campaign, they have only reached the last 16 in four of them - the ladies U25 singles, David Cornwell U25 Double Rinks, as well as the ladies’ national singles and men’s national fours.

On the team front, they made swift exits in all competitions and the men failed to gain a place in the Wessex League play-offs for only the second time in their history.

The one exception to the sorry tale was the junior mixed side, who enjoyed a magnificent run in the U25s double rinks and were just pipped to a place in the final.

They beat Bristol (40-37), MidGlos (46-27), Oxford City & County (53-26) and Moonfleet (Weymouth) 39-30 in the quarter-finals.

In the semi-final at Sutton, however, they went down 44-41 to Swale (Sittingbourne, Kent), despite drawing 41-41 and holding shot to win the match on the last end.

Another junior, 18-year-old Katy Smith, reached the final stages of the ladies U25 championship at White Oak IBC (Swanley, Kent) after winning the west regional qualifying round.

However, she went out in the last 16, beaten 1.5-0.5 in sets by the eventual winner, Wellingborough’s England U25 international Chloe Wordingham.

Westlecot’s hopes of national indoor glory now rest on the next week in Melton & District in the final block of championship events.

First up are Kevin Embling, Chris Chelsey, Ian Jefferies and Neil Smith (skipper) as they face Hartlepool (Cleveland) in the last 16 of the national fours championship.

Finally, Lucy Smith, 19, is competing in the ladies singles, having reached the semi-finals last year. She faces England international Penny Strong (Lincoln).

  • THE Easter period will see several players from Westlecot competing in the two planetbowls.com tournaments being staged over the holiday weekend - the Torquay Open Singles and the Dolphin Open Singles (Poole), which is being played tomorrow and Easter Monday.

Katy and Neil Smith are in action in Torquay, while Mike Titcombe, Gary Jackson, John Anderson and Matt Webster compete in Poole.

  •  EASTER normally heralds the opening of greens and the start of a new outdoor bowls season.

However, as it is early in this year’s calendar, the traditional opening will not take place until next weekend or, in some cases, not until April 18-19.

  • BOWLS England have this week named the players for both the ladies and men’s junior international outdoor trials to be staged at Royal Leamington Spa on Monday, May 25.

They include four local players, three from Wootton Bassett and one from Highworth.

Bassett duo Katy Smith and Kyle Anderson are named in the respective ladies and men’s trials while Lucy Smith (Wootton Bassett) and Joanna Richman (Highworth) are listed as reserves.

For Highworth player Richman, it is her first England squad call-up but the other three all featured in trials last year.

UK Open draw revealed

THE DRAW has been made for the final planetbowls.com competition of the 2014/15 indoor season – the UK Open Singles Tournament.

A total of 64 players will compete from April 22-24 at Boston IBC for a prize pot of £10,000, with £3,000 going to the winner.

The final day will see the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final all played on the single television rink and streamed live on PBTV.

There were 307 entries for the UK Open Singles from all four home nations, who were divided into 35 areas and, depending on the size of entries, determined the number of qualifiers for Boston.

Westlecot were paired with Christie Miller (Melksham) and North Wilts (Chippenham) in Area 14 and their section drew one of the highest number of entrants – 23.

Matches were played in the 35 areas from mid-January to produce the qualifiers for the last 64 in Boston.

Westlecot’s group had five qualifiers – Lucy and Smith, Craig Morphet, Chris Chelsey and Mike Titcombe.

The first round will be played on the opening two days, with the winners on each day moving forward to an open second round draw and open draws from then on.