WILTSHIRE men are on the brink of winning their Middleton Cup west group again and qualifying for the quarter-finals in the inter-county championships for the fifth consecutive year.

Beaten finalists three years ago they had to come from behind last Saturday at home at Wootton Bassett to draw level at halfway and then just gradually edged away to a 128-109 victory over Worcestershire and set-up another chance of reaching the semi-finals at the national championships at Royal Leamington Spa in August.

Wiltshire have won their opening three west group matches against Warwickshire and Dorset, both away, as well as Worcestershire (home).

They just need now to win on one of the six rinks in their final group match at home at Wootton Bassett on July 4 against nearest rivals Somerset to win the group and qualify for the quarter-finals for the fifth year in a row on July 18 at a venue to be arranged.

The two points for a rink win would take them onto 54 points and into an unassailable lead over Somerset who could then only total 52 points.

However, Wiltshire will want to want to finish their group campaign in style with another win this time over Somerset to stay unbeaten in 2015.

Wiltshire made a slow start in their first home Middleton Cup game of the 2015 campaign against Worcestershire and trailed 30-21 across the board after five ends but were all square at 54-54 by ten ends and from that point just pulled gradually away to a 19 shots victory.

The overall 128-109 success was built on big wins for the rinks skipped by Mel Biggs (18 shots) and Neil Smith (12 shots) both recording their third wins of the campaign while Ben Gadd edged home by two shots.

Skips Graham Shadwell and Russell Francis both suffered last end losses but alarmingly Gary Morphet’s unchanged all-Bassett rink suffered a third successive defeat.

Jubilant player/manager Dave Snell commented: “Another great win for Wiltshire, but as I suggested before the game that it would be a tough match it was exactly that especially for the first half of the game.

“Worcestershire started strong and after five ends had a nine shot lead, and they increased their advantage to 11 shots after seven.

“But by the 10th end Wiltshire had fought back to level the match 54 shots each. It was then that we started to get a grip on the game.

“The team spirit that has served us well over the last four seasons was strong again, and with Mel Biggs’ and Neil Smith's rinks starting to pull away and by the 17th end between them had a 30 shot lead inspired the team to another group win.”

Snell continued: “Again the other result on the day went our way with Dorset surprisingly winning 16-6 away to Somerset which puts us in a very strong position to qualify for the quarter finals again.

“We are now 20 points clear of second place Somerset who we play at home on July 4 so only need to win on one rink to qualify,” he added.

The Wiltshire team to face Somerset in the last west group match on July 4 shows two positional changes with Wootton Bassett duo Gary Morphet and Stephen Snell swapping places.

Morphet moves from skip to three in Graham Shadwell’s rink with Snell moving out from three and taking over Morphet’s place as skip of a rink.

RESULTS

Rink 1: Tom Warner, Nick Revell (both Amesbury), Wayne Snook & Ben Gadd (both Holt) beat Grant Burgess 22-20. Rink 2: Kevin Embling (Westlecot), Keith Bailey (Holt), Tom Walkley & Neil Smith (both Wootton Bassett ) beat Luke Lane 24-12. Rink 3: Barry Sictorness, Chris Cheesley, Dave Godwin & Gary Morphet (all WB) lost to Steve Poynter 11-22. Rink 4: Dave Snell (WB), Graham Hatherall, Mike Jackson & Mel Biggs (all West) beat Andy Walters 30-12. Rink 5: Wayne Simmonds, Kevin Rowden (both Holt), Andy Colebrooke & Russell Francis (both Spencer Moulton) lost to Ryan Atkins 25-26. Rink 6: Gary Jackson (West), Craig Doughty (Holt), Stephen Snell (WB) & Graham Shadwell (S Moulton) lost to Rob Stanley 16-17.

Score: Wiltshire beat Worcestershire 128-109 and 16pts to 6pts.

West B Group Scores June 20: Somerset 106 (6pts) Dorset 130 (16pts); Wiltshire 128 (16pts) Worcestershire 109 (6pts).

Remaining Fixtures July 4: Worcs v Warks; Wilts v Somerset (at Wootton Bassett).

WOOTTON Bassett players dominate the re-arranged county semi-finals in the men’s national fours and triples which will now be staged at Chippenham Town this Sunday June 28.

Three Bassett rinks contest the fours semi-finals while their two representatives in the triples have been drawn against each other in the afternoon semi-finals.

In the other semi-final holders Holt led by skip BenGadd face Steve Heseltine’s trio who have home advantage.

SEMI-FINALS DRAW

Fours at Chippenham Town, Sunday, June 28 (10am): Kyle Anderson, Dave Snell, Dave Godwin & Steve Snell (Wootton Bassett) v James Nobbs, Terry Walton, Tom Walkley & Neil Smith (WB); Gary Jackson, Graham Hatherall, Mike Jackson & Mel Biggs (Westlecot) v Barry Sictorness, John Williamson, Chris Cheesley & Gary Morphet (WB).

Triples at Chippenham T (2pm): Wayne Simmonds, Wayne Snook & Ben Gadd (holders, Holt) v Andy Blake, Will Jones & Steve Heseltine (Chippenham Town); James Nobbs, Chris Cheesley & Gary Morphet (WB) v Kyle Anderson, Steve Snell & Dave Godwin (WB).