WESTLECOT and Wootton Bassett dominated the county men’s national championship semi-finals held at Westlecot last Sunday.

The two clubs supplied the semi-final winners in the singles, junior singles (U25s) and two wood singles.

Wiltshire singles record holder, Westlecot’s former England international Mel Biggs, who secured five victories between 1981 and 2011, booked his place in another singles final (his 11th), the 2014 beaten finalist claiming a 21-16 victory over Andy Colebrooke (Spencer Moulton).

He will face Dave Godwin, from Wootton Bassett, in the final at Devizes in September after he beat Tom Warner (Amesbury) 21-14 in the other semi-final.

The U25 junior singles final will also be a Wootton Bassett and Westlecot affair between Kyle Anderson and Craig Hatherall, the former beating Westlecot’s Gary Jackson 21-18 and the latter seeing off Holt’s Adam Bolwell 22-17.

Two-wood singles holder Graham Hatherall (Westlecot) beat Chippenham Town’s Bob Clews in the quarters 18-9 then saw off Malcolm Clift (Holt) 15-5.

Mike Jackson (Westlecot) edged Carl Fernandes (Swindon) 14-11 and then faced Craig Hatherall, who had defeated Jackson’s son Gary, winning 13-8.

Holder Hatherall will meet Jackson in the county final at Devizes on the weekend of September 5-6 and like all the semi-final winners will also qualify to represent Wiltshire at the national championships at Royal Leamington Spa next month.

Bassett’s Chris Cheesley and Neil Smith lost out on the last end against Spencer Moulton’s Russell Francis and Graham Shadwell in the national pairs.

RESULTS

Singles (semi-finals): Dave Godwin (Wootton Bassett) beat Tom Warner (Amesbury) 21-14; Mel Biggs (Westlecot) beat Andy Colebrooke (Spencer Moulton) 21-16.

Junior (U25) Singles (semi-finals): Gary Jackson (W’lecot) lost to Kyle Anderson (WB) 18-21; Adam Bolwell (Holt) lost to Craig Hatherall (W’lecot) 17-22.

Two Wood Singles (quarter-finals): Malcolm Clift (Holt) beat Mike Crane (Wilton) 15-8; Graham Hatherall (holder, W’lecot) beat Rob Clews (Chippenham Town) 18-9; Mike Jackson (W’lecot) beat Carl Fernandes (Swindon) 14-11; Craig Hatherall (W’lecot) beat Gary Jackson (W’lecot) 16-7.

Two Wood Singles (semi-finals): M Clift lost to G Hatherall 5-15; M Jackson beat C Hatherall 13-8.

Pairs (semi-finals): Russell Francis & Graham Shadwell (S Moulton) beat Chris Cheesley & Neil Smith (WB) 17-16; Mike Tyler & Mickey Crook (Amesbury) lost to Kevin Rowden (sub for Justin Davis) & Ben Gadd (Holt) 11-22.

WILTSHIRE men meet arch-rivals Devon in the quarter-finals of the Middleton Cup at West Backwell Bowls Club, North Somerset (2pm) today.

The Moonrakers won their inter-county championship west group for the fifth year in a row and meet Devon for a third year in a row, having won last year after defeat in 2013.

Wiltshire skips Neil Smith (Wootton Bassett) and Mel Biggs (Westlecot) are unbeaten with four wins each, while Holt’s Ben Gadd and England international Graham Shadwell have three wins each.

TEAM

Rink 1: Dave Snell (Wootton Bassett), Graham Hatherall, Mike Jackson & Mel Biggs (all Westlecot).

Rink 2: Gary Jackson (West), Craig Doughty (Holt), Gary Morphet (WB) & Graham Shadwell (Spencer Moulton).

Rink 3: Barry Sictorness, Chris Cheesley, Dave Godwin & Stephen Snell (all WB).

Rink 4: Wayne Simmonds, Kevin Rowden (both Holt), Andy Colebrooke & Russell Francis (both S Moulton).

Rink 5: Tom Warner, Nick Revell (both Amesbury), Wayne Snook & Ben Gadd (both Holt).

Rink 6: Kevin Embling (West), Keith Bailey (Holt), Tom Walkley & Neil Smith (both WB). Reserves: James Nobbs (WB), Mike Titcombe, Craig Hatherall & Paul Kistle (all West).

DAVE SNELL, winner of the national senior singles title at Royal Leamington Spa last year, is poised to return to defend his crown with just one hurdle to negotiate tomorrow (Sunday).

He faces Pete Long (Amesbury) in the Wiltshire senior singles final tomorrow at Amesbury.

Snell, who won the senior pairs title two years ago with Mel Biggs (Westlecot) at Worthing, has also reached that county final again with Biggs and plays Kevin Oliver and Rod Summers (Holt) on July 27 at Wootton Bassett.