WESTLECOT men finished their group games in the East region of the Wessex League in perfect style by whitewashing nearest rivals Carterton last Sunday in their top-of-the-table clash.

An 87-65 victory maintained the Old Town indoor club’s unbeaten run in the Wessex League and extended their run of successive wins to nine matches this season.

They collected a maximum 16 points as a result of winning on all four rinks to finish with a final total of 130 points.

That is 25 points clear of West Berks (Newbury) on 105, with Loddon Vale (Basingstoke) just behind on 104. Carterton end on 95 points and drop back from second to fourth spot and are virtually certain to miss out on one of the four wildcards that will be awarded after the conclusion of the Midland region games on Sunday.

Only pride was at stake for Westlecot as they had won the East section two weeks earlier but they did not relax against Carterton, finishing with a convincing win to boost confidence in the squad ready for the end-of-season play-offs for the overall Wessex League title that commence on Saturday, March 5.

The selectors’ decision to field a strong side for the Carterton game was fully vindicated as the Old Town club took the honours on all four rinks.

They led from the outset but Carterton kept it tight until just on halfway, when Westlecot moved up a couple of gears and began to pull away, particularly in Oxfordshire, as skips Dave Godwin and Steve Remington took control of their games.

Overall, Westlecot led 22-17 at five ends and 45-36 at 10 but were 60-49 clear at 15, had gone 74-54 up at 18, and finally won 87-65.

Westlecot have been drawn against Dolphin (Poole) in the first round of the play-offs, with the Dorset side having finished as runners-up to Moonfleet (Weymouth) in the Coastal region.

n SWINDON’S other indoor club, Swindon Manor, based in Rodbourne Cheney, finished their second season in the Wessex League by going down 97-56 to high-flying Loddon Vale (Basingstoke).

However, they had the satisfaction of winning on one of the two home rinks handsomely, with Richard Young’s quartet romping home 23-8.

Their two points were enough to deny Loddon Vale the runners-up position as they finished a point behind West Berks (Newbury), who claimed the second automatic play-off place in the East region.

However, Loddon Vale appear to be odds-on favourites to be awarded one of the precious four wildcards as they finished with a match average of 11.555 out of 16 from their nine group games – the best at present out of all of the clubs vying for a spot.

Despite their loss to Vale, Manor finished eighth out of the 10 teams in the East section but can still look back on a satisfactory season in the men’s regional competition.

After failing to find their feet at all in the last campaign, when they lost all nine of their matches, they have bounced back well.

Manor coach Carl Fernandes said: "This season has been a vast improvement on last season. We have become a far more resilient side and hopefully we can build on that next season and continue to improve further.”

  • WOOTTON BASSETT Bowls Club, which was formed in 1928, has been renamed with immediate effect.

The cabinet office this week granted permission for the title Royal to be incorporated in their club name.

Therefore, one of the top bowls clubs in Wiltshire and home for all of the county men’s Middleton Cup games for the inter-county championship will be known as Royal Wootton Bassett Bowls Club.

The club will be staging a special game on Sunday, May 15, between RWBBC and the Disability Bowls England team (2.30pm).

The aim of the match is to raise awareness of the game of bowls to people who have disabilities.