WOOTTON Bassett 's triples sides, skipped by Gary Morphet and Dave Godwin, alongside holders Holt and Chippenham Town, have qualified for the Wiltshire men’s county championship semi-finals.

The four teams all booked their places at Chippenham Town in the last four of the competition next weekend.

The Bassett team of James Nobbs, Chris Cheesley and Morphet easily saw off the challenge from Spencer Moulton, led by Nick Grenfell, 26-12 in their quarter-final.

Boosted by a seven on the second end, Morphet’s trio led 11-4 before being 26-12 up when a halt was called after only 16 ends.

The other Bassett triple of Kyle Anderson, Stephen Snell and Godwin led Nick Revell (Amesbury) 11-6 at six ends and managed to stave off a fightback from the Amesbury team before finally winning 22-19.

Despite leading Holt 11-6 at eight ends, the Westlecot triple of Paul Kistle, Des Rideout and young Craig Morphet came second best to the holders Wayne Simmonds, Wayne Snook and Ben Gadd as they went down 20-12.

And another Westlecot triple, skipped by county stalwart Mel Biggs, also bit the dust as Chippenham Town’s Steve Heseltine pulled off a shock, winning 21-10.

  • WILTSHIRE men begin their bid for glory in the inter-county championship for the Middleton Cup today.

They reached the semi-finals last season at Royal Leamington Spa but lost to Hampshire, who then beat Norfolk in the final.

The Moonrakers open their cup bid with a visit to Rugby to face Warwickshire (2pm).

Then they travel Dorset on June 13 before ending their west group matches with two home fixtures against Worcestershire (June 20) and Somerset (July 4) at Wootton Bassett.

The team named by the selectors for the Warwickshire opening match today is only drawn from five clubs.

Wootton Bassett have the largest representation, with nine in the 24-strong side, while Westlecot and Holt both have five each, Spencer Moulton three and Amesbury two.

  • THE draw has been made for the west regional final in the White Rose Trophy, which Wiltshire's U25 men’s side qualified for with a 41-35 first round victory over Dorset.

In the men’s national county under 25’s two fours competition, Wiltshire will face Devon in the regional semi-finals at Bristol BC next Sunday.

  • THE county men’s side have made a fine start to their programme of friendly fixtures this season under the stewardship of 2015 president Richard Gardiner (Supermarine).

They drew their opening match 117-117 against Gloucestershire at Highworth and then recorded only their second success in ten years in the annual fixture with the West Wilts Bowls Association winning 115-108 at Trowbridge Westbourne.