WINNERS for the past five years of their west group in the inter-county championship for the Middleton Cup Wiltshire’s hopes of making it six in a row and reaching the quarter-finals again took a big jolt last Saturday.

They lost at home to Warwickshire at Royal Wootton Bassett by 10 shots as they went down 113-103 in their opening West Group B.

The made a poor start but were only 26-22 down across the board after five ends but that had increased to 63-46 at halfway and they went further adrift 86-60 at 15.

However, after trailing 101-74 at 18 ends they produced a massive surge on the next end to cut the gap to only six shots at 101-95 and revive hopes of a possible win.

But visitors Warwickshire rode-out the Moonrakers’ storm to finish with a 10 shot advantage when winning 113-103 after 21 ends.

Disappointed Wiltshire team manager Dave Snell said: “Obviously this was not the result we were looking for but Warwickshire are a good side and have pushed us hard in recent seasons.

“We did not get off to the best start with Stephen Snell’s rink 12-0 down after six ends and likewise Graham Shadwell’s 12-0 down after seven.

“At 15 ends we were 27 shots down and a defeat looked on the cards.

“But on the 19th end we picked up 21 shots to nil across the green to reduce the deficit to six shots and kept us in with a chance of turning the game round, however this was not to be the case and Warwickshire held on to win by 10 shots.

RESULTS - Rink 1: Kyle Anderson, Chris Cheesley, David Godwin & Stephen Snell (all Royal Wootton Bassett) lost to Colin Jacox 17-27. Rink 2: Tom Warner (Amesbury), Chris Poole, Craig Doughty (both Holt) & Russell Francis (Spencer Moulton) lost to Alan Apsey 12-20. Rink 3: Kevin Embling (RWB), Michael Titcombe, Ian Jefferies (both Westlecot) & Neil Smith (RWB) beat Dan Box 21-13. Rink 4: David Snell (player/manager, RWB), Graham Hatherall, Mike Jackson (both West) & Mel Biggs (RWB) beat Calvin Wells 21-19. Rink 5: Wayne Simmonds (Holt), Craig Hatherall (West), Wayne Snook & Ben Gadd (both Holt) beat Andy Smith 22-9. Rink 6: Gary Jackson, Michael Richards (both West), Gary Morphet (RWB) & Graham Shadwell (S Moulton) lost to Paul Speake 10-25.

Score: Wiltshire (6 points) lost to Warwickshire (16) 103-113.

LESS than 24 hours later Wiltshire bounced back at Royal Wootton Bassett with a hard fought last end three shots win over Somerset in the Balcombe Trophy, inter-counties double rinks competition.

Wiltshire shared the honours one-all in this first round tie with a win for Ben Gadd’s rink but a defeat for Graham Shadwell’s quartet.

RESULTS: Rink 4: Wayne Simmonds, Wayne Snook (both Holt), Neil Smith (Royal Wootton Bassett) & Ben Gadd (Holt) beat Nick Pearce 27-14. Rink 5: Kyle Anderson, Mel Biggs, Stephen Snell (all RWB) & Graham Shadwell (Spencer Moulton) lost to James Amery 16-26.

A FINE late revival saw Stephen Snell’s rink come out on top in their re-arranged men’s national fours quarter-final beating a fellow Royal Wootton Bassett rink, skipped by Mel Biggs, 19-17.

In the other re-arranged fours last eight clashes, Purton’s Dave Hall, Eric Collier, Colin Baker and Dave Jones grabbed a last gasp 17-15 victory over Highworth’s Mark Richman, Hugh Linning, John Goodall and Rob Etherington.

A seniors foursome from Westlecot of G Mazzotta, Mike Titcombe snr, Denis Coombs and Mike Hall (skip) lost out 21-15 to a Holt quartet of Wayne Simmonds, Justin Davis, Wayne Snook and Ben Gadd.

COUNTY Men’s junior side will be bidding this Sunday for a place in the last four at the national championships at Royal Leamington Spa.

The U25 side will face Devon in the semi-finals (10am) in the White Rose Trophy and if successful would face either Somerset or Worcestershire in the regional final.

TEAM - Rink 1: Adam Bolwell (Winsley), Tom Warner (Amesbury), Gary Jackson (Westlecot) and Nick Revell (Amesbury). Rink 2: James Richman (Highworth), Mike Titcombe, Craig Hatherall (both West) and Kyle Anderson (Royal Wootton Bassett). Res: Ben Choules (Highworth), Craig Morphet (Westlecot), Chris Poole (Holt) and Jamie Shadwell (Spencer Moulton).