THE Wiltshire men’s semi-finals in the main six national championship events - singles, pairs, triples, fours, two wood and junior (U25) singles - held at Devizes were dominated by players from three local clubs.

Sunday's semis produced 12 finalists, Royal Wootton Bassett leading the way with five of the finalists, while Westlecot booked two places and Purton one.

Bassett were represented in five semi-finals and won all of them.

Bassett’s Dave Godwin and Neil Smith will meet in the singles final after both won their semi-final clashes against fellow Middleton Cup players.

Godwin, the 2015 county singles runner-up, thumped England international Graham Shadwell (Spencer Moulton) 21-9 after making a dream start to win the first five ends and lead 12-0. Five singles and a brace of twos in the next 11 ends took him to victory.

England indoor international Smith had a much tougher game against Holt’s Wayne Snook and trailed for most of the match.

He was 6-5 down at five ends, 13-9 down at 11 and 18-15 adrift to Snook after 19 ends but Smith rallied strongly with a run of two twos and a pair of singles over the next four ends for a hard fought 21-18 win.

Winners of the Wiltshire pairs title in 1985 and 1989 Dave Snell and Mel Biggs, back playing in the county men’s pairs together again after a break of more than 20 years following Biggs’ move back from Westlecot to Bassett in the winter, are through to the county men’s pairs final.

The twice national Over 55s pairs champions in the past three years blitzed Westlecot duo Kevin Lee and Keith Williamson 25-5 after only 17 ends. They led 15-4 at 11 ends and never looked back.

In the junior (under 25) singles Kyle Anderson’s (Bassett) greater experience proved decisive over teenager Jamie Shadwell, son of Graham, as he ran out a comfortable 21-8 winner.

Bassett’s successful five-timer was completed in the delayed fours semi-final in the morning as the holders Stephen Snell’s rink of Anderson, Tom Walkley, Godwin and Snell himself easily overcame Amesbury leading 17-4 at 11 ends before claiming a 27-16 success.

Snell’s rink will meet Purton in the final after the recorded a superb last-end 18-17 success a couple of weeks earlier at Devizes over Holt, the 2014 county fours champions.

The triples semi-final between Spencer Moulton and Westlecot saw the Moulton team of Andy Colebrooke, Russell Francis and Graham Shadwell, the 2014 national triples champions, hold a young Swindon trio of Gary Jackson, Craig Hatherall and Mike Titcombe at bay.

Westlecot led narrowly 4-3 at five ends but trailed 13-5 at nine but only 14-9 at 13. However, Moulton pulled away again before claiming an 18-11 win to prevent an all-Westlecot triples final.

The Old Town club’s trio of Keith Williamson, Kevin Carter and Jamie Titcombe (sub for Ray Sowden) had won the other triples semi-final a couple of weeks earlier at Devizes, demolishing a triple from the host club Devizes 25-7, the game ending at 16 ends.

Jackson provided Westlecot’s other success at Devizes last Sunday in the two wood singles.

He easily accounted for Holt’s Keith Bailey 19-8 in the quarter-finals and then defeated Calne’s David Johns 15-10 in the semis. Johns earlier had claimed a narrow last end 15-13 success over Highworth’s Shaun Hicks in the quarter-finals.

Amesbury’s Tom Warner won the other two wood semi-final defeating Justin Davis (Holt) 16-12 to book a place in the final with Jackson.

Warner also used greater experience to curb the challenge of Adam Bolwell in the U25 singles semi-final and book a place in the final against Bassett’s Kyle Anderson.

The other pairs semi-final an all-Spencer Moulton affair saw Russell Francis and Graham Shadwell outgun Gary Fippen and Nick Grenville 24-11. They now face Bassett’s highly successful combination of Snell and Biggs in the pairs final.

All of the Devizes semi-final winners in the six championship events will meet in their respective events in the county finals at Devizes next Sunday, July 31 and have earned the right to represent Wiltshire at Royal Leamington Spa at the men’s national championships from mid-August onwards.

RESULTS

All semi-finals unless stated

Fours: Kyle Anderson, Tom Walkley, Dave Godwin & Stephen Snell (Royal Wootton Bassett) beat Mike Tyler, Graham House, Tom Warner & Nick Revell (Amesbury) 27-16.

Played previously at Devizes: Dave Hall, Eric Collier, Colin Baker & Dave Jones (Purton) beat Wayne Simmonds, Justin Davis, Wayne Snook & Ben Gadd (Holt) 18-17.

Triples: Gary Jackson, Craig Hatherall & Mike Titcombe Jnr (Westlecot ) lost to Andy Colebrooke, Russell Francis & Graham Shadwell (Spencer Moulton) 11-18.

Played previously at Devizes: Keith Williamson, Kevin Carter & Ray Sowden (sub Jamie Titcombe, Westlecot) beat John Schofield, Trefor Jones & Gerald Webb (Devizes) 25-7.

Singles: Dave Godwin (RWB) beat Graham Shadwell (S Moulton) 21-9; Wayne Snook (Holt) lost to Neil Smith (RWB) 18-21.

Junior (U25) singles: K Anderson (RWB) beat Jamie Shadwell (S Moulton) 21-8; T Warner (Ames) beat Adam Bolwell (Winsley) 21-11.

Pairs: Dave Snell & Mel Biggs (RWB) beat Kevin Lee & Keith Williamson (West) 25-5. R Francis & G Shadwell (S Moulton) beat Gary Fippen & Nick Grenfell (S Moulton) 24-11.

Two Wood singles quarter-finals: G Jackson (West) beat Keith Bailey (Holt) 19-8; David Johns (Calne) beat Shaun Hicks (Highworth) 15-13; Tom Newman (Avon) lost to Tom Warner (Ames) 2-17; Norman Gould (Ames) lost to Justin Davis (Holt) 5-18.

Semi-finals: Gary Jackson beat David Johns 15-10; Tom Warner beat Justin Davis 16-12.

THE junior men’s county side drew their U25 South Western Counties League match against Somerset at home at Spencer Melksham.

The two sides were locked together in the three rink match 63-63 but edged the points on offer 7-5 as they won on two of the three rinks despite one of the rinks dropping a seven on the 20th end.

Wiltshire easily though took the spoils in the development rink game winning it easily 31-12.

“We enjoyed a really good battle with a strong Somerset side during Saturday’s SWCL game,” said U25 team manager Adam Tanner.

“Wiltshire led overall for much of the match but eventually needed a great last bowl from Michael Titcombe to trail the jack for four shots and tie the main three-rink fixture at 63-63.

“To demonstrate what a close game it was, we won two rinks by one shot and lost the other rink by two shots giving us a 7-5 overall win on points. And our development rink managed a comfortable win.”

RESULTS

Rink 3: Adam Bolwell (Winsley), Ben Choules (Highworth), Craig Hatherall & Mike Titcombe (both Westlecot) beat Sam Steel 25-24.

Rink 4: Jamie Shadwell (Spencer Moulton), George Twine (Royal Wootton Bassett), Chris Poole (Holt) & Kyle Anderson (RWB) beat Luke Townsend 20-19.

Rink 5: Tom Newman (Avon), Ashley Plumb (Amesbury), Craig Morphet (West) & Tom Warner (Ames) lost to Ryan Hooper 18-20.

Development Rink: John Hermon, Jordan Moore, Josh Farrer & Bradley Franklin beat Oliver Kemp 31-12.

THE county men’s representative side, under the stewardship of Peter Sanders (Spencer Melksham), recorded a 26-shot victory in their latest county friendly played at Highworth last Thursday.

They ran out 130-104 victors against Warwickshire and took the honours on four of the six rinks.

Sanders had the satisfaction of winning the battle of the presidents against Clive Faulkner and also taking the top rink accolade recording a 19 shot winning margin.

RESULTS (Skips only)

Rink 1: Alfie Maslen beat Malcolm Welch 23-15. Rink 2: John Southern beat Bruce Truman 23-19. Rink 3: Dave Williams beat Keith Hornsby 23-13. Rink 4: Peter Sanders beat Ian Kendall 29-10. Rink 5: Roy Major lost to Bernard Kendrick 17-20. Rink 6: Mel Williams lost to Richard Woodard 15-27.

Score: Wiltshire beat Warwickshire 130-104.