WILTSHIRE men thumped Worcestershire last weekend to keep alive their hopes of winning their Middleton Cup west group and reaching the quarter-finals for the six successive season.

After the disappointment of losing their first inter-counties championship match this season to Warwickshire, they beat Dorset last week and followed it up last Saturday with a comprehensive 132-105 victory at Broadway over Worcestershire.

The Moonrakers won on five of the six rinks to collect 21 of the 22 points on offer and move up into second place in the table behind Warwickshire and ensure the battle for top spot goes down to the last set of matches.

The opening exchanges with Worcestershire were tight and across the board Wiltshire only led 31-28 after five ends but had gone 24 shots up and 70-46 clear at ten.

After 15 ends they were 94-78 up and 114-94 ahead at 18 before settling for a comfortable 132-105 success at 21 ends.

The Holt trio of Wayne Simmonds, Wayne Snook and Ben Gadd (skip) plus Westlecot’s Craig Hatherall were the highest winning rink with a margin of 14 shots – their third successive victory.

The rinks skipped by Graham Shadwell, Mel Biggs and Russell Francis all won by four shots while Steve Snell edged home by one shot and Neil Smith drew.

Francis’ foursome were staring defeat in the face trailing 17-10 at 17 ends but a five on the 18th followed by a rare count of a maximum eight (a hotshot) saw them leapt into a 23-17 lead and hold on for a 23-19 win.

Delighted player/team manager Dave Snell said: “We came to Broadway knowing that we needed a big win and that is exactly what we got winning on five rinks and gaining a 21-1 win.

“Although we were in front score-wise all of the game it did not look like we were going to get a five rink win and a draw as after five ends we were only winning on three, on 10 ends we were winning on four rinks, after 15 ends we were still winning on four rinks albeit two rinks were only one shot up and after 18 ends we only had three winning rinks.

“But we finished strongly, especially on the Russell Francis rink who were looking a defeat in the face however they picked up a five and then a full house eight back to back to turn a seven shot deficit into a six shot lead and eventually go on to win by four shots.

“And there was another solid performance from Ben Gadd’s rink while overall a superb team performance.”

Snell added: “If we can duplicate this result against Somerset in two weeks time (which won’t be easy) it will mean that Warwickshire will have to win their last group game against Worcestershire to qualify to the quarter finals - so all is still to play for.”

RESULTS

Rink 1: Adam Bolwell (Winsley), Craig Doughty (Holt), Gary Morphet & Stephen Snell (both Royal Wootton Bassett) beat Steve Poynter 17-16. Rink 2: Tom Warner, Nick Revell (both Amesbury), Dave Godwin (RWB) & Russell Francis (Spencer Moulton) beat Rob Stanley 23-19. Rink 3: Kevin Embling (RWB), Michael Titcombe, Ian Jefferies (both Westlecot) & Neil Smith (RWB) drew with Andrew Walters 18-18. Rink 4: Gary Jackson, Michael Richards, Graham Hatherall (all West) & Graham Shadwell (S Moulton) beat Luke Lane 23-19. Rink 5: Wayne Simmonds (Holt), Craig Hatherall (West), Wayne Snook & Ben Gadd (both Holt) beat Grant Burgess 29-15. Rink 6: Kyle Anderson, David Snell (player/manager, both RWB), Mike Jackson (West) & Mel Biggs (RWB) beat Keith Weaver 22-18.

Score: Wiltshire beat Worcestershire 132-105 and by 21pts to 1pt.

THE SENIOR men’s side tasted defeat the next day in the west regional final of the Balcomb Trophy at Clevedon.

They lost in the semi-finals to Devon 44-33 who went on to beat Worcestershire in the final 44-27 and book a place in the last four at Royal Leamington Spa in mid-August.

“We lost but gave Devon a fright,” said team manager Snell. “After 15 ends we were one up overall.

“But Ben (Gadd) finally lost by nine shots while Graham (Shadwell) was two up going into last end so trying to take woods out for a seven to win it went wrong and he dropped a four.”

RESULTS

Rink 1: Wayne Simmonds, Wayne Snook (both Holt), Neil Smith (Royal Wootton Bassett) & Ben Gadd (Holt) lost to James Webber 16-25. Rink 2: Kyle Anderson, Mel Biggs, Stephen Snell (all RWB) & Graham Shadwell (Spencer Moulton) lost to Ian Lesley 17-19.

Score: Wiltshire lost to Devon 33-44.

COUNTY men’s junior Under 25 side cast aside their disappointment of missing out to Devon in the White Rose Trophy regional finals a week earlier to beat them in their latest South West Counties U25 league clash staged at Bridgwater last Sunday.

Both sides fielded teams totally different to the ones that had meet at Bristol seven days earlier with Wiltshire coming out on top this time around by two shots in a 59-57 success.

Wiltshire team manager Adam Tanner said: “We started strongly and, although we fell behind during the middle section during some wet conditions, our lads persevered, and a late comeback left us with a 59-57 aggregate win.

“We had a young side, including one rink with an average age of 16, and I was really pleased with their performance and overall conduct against a Devon team which had some White Rose presence in it.”

Across the board Wiltshire led 14-11 at five ends and 36-23 at halfway (11 ends) but had slipped behind as Devon roared back to lead 45-39 at 15 and 54-44 at 18.

But a superb late flourish saw Wiltshire grab a 59-57 victory bagging 11 shots and only conceding two over the last two ends across the board.

Although Wiltshire only won on one of the three ends the late revival and 13 shots winning margin from Chris Poole’s foursome proved decisive in the final analysis.

RESULTS

Rink 1: Jamie Shadwell (Spencer Moulton), George Twine (Royal Wootton Bassett), Ben Choules (Highworth) & Adam Bolwell (Winsley) lost to Jack Chapman 14-21. Rink 2: James Vincent (Alderbury), John Hermon (Garrards), Tom Newman (Avon) & Chris Poole (Holt) beat Chris Dolmore 24-11. Rink 3: Sean Etherington (Highworth), Bradley Frankham (Trowbridge Westbourne), Ashley Plumb & Tom Warner (both Amesbury) lost to Adam Loveridge 21-25.

Score: Wiltshire U25s beat Devon U25s 59-57.

THIRD time proved lucky for 2016 Wiltshire men’s president Pete Sanders (Spencer Melksham) as he saw his representative side finally record a victory for the first time this season.

The team only took the honours on two of the six rinks but registered an 11 shots success as they defeated Isle of Wight 119-108 away in Shanklin last week.

The victory was due entirely to the efforts of the rinks skipped by Bill Collier and Alfie Maslen who recorded 27 and 11 shot wins respectively.

Then on Monday this week Bowls Wiltshire Men made it two wins in a row as they defeated Cornwall in a county friendly played on the neutral green at Tiverton West End 131-101.

Wiltshire took the honours on three rinks, drew on two and only lost on one of the six.

Top rink award went to the foursome skipped by Brian Merritt who won their match by 15 shots.

RESULTS v Isle of Wight

Rink 1: Alan Small lost to Barry Rodwell 18-24; Rink 2: Bob Fredericks lost to Tony King 14-17; Rink 3: John Hurle lost to Bob Poynter 14-25; Rink 4: John Southern lost to Roy Smith 14-21; Rink 5: Alfie Maslen beat Derek Stevens 27-16; Rink 6: Bill Collier beat Denis Mulhern 32-5.

Score: Wiltshire beat Isle of Wight 119-108.

v Cornwall

Rink 1: Graham Annetts drew with C Harris 19-19; Rink 2: Bob Fredericks beat M Tout 26-18; Rink 3: Brian Merritt beat M McPherson 25-10; Rink 4: John Southern lost to P Prynne 18-20; Rink 5: Martin Salter drew with R Rowe 18-18; Rink 6: John Crowder beat M Richards 25-16.

Score: Wiltshire beat Cornwall 131-101.