GARY Morphet and his son Craig return to Victoria Park, Royal Leamington Spa today (Saturday) bidding for more glory again in the mixed national family pairs competition.

The Royal Wootton Bassett father and son combination lifted the trophy two years ago, beating Geoff Millership and his son Tom, an England international, from Rugby, Warwickshire, 20-19 in the final.

They went out in the preliminary round last season but have turned their fortunes around again this season.

Morphet and his 24-year-old son Craig have reached the last eight again this year and will face in the quarter-finals on Saturday afternoon (2pm) another Warwickshire combination in Mark and Andy Smith (Avenue club, Leamington, Warks).

To reach this stage again, the Morphets won section two of the 2018 family pairs that covers the counties of Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and of course Wiltshire.

They opened with a preliminary round bye and in round two beat Justin Davis (Holt) 24-15 and then in round three accounted for Adam Bolwell (Spencer Moulton).

Round four saw Morphets win in Dorset 17-11 against Andrew Paulley (Blandford) and in round five beat Wootton Bassett clubmates Graham and Craig Hatherall 28-15, who were losing family pairs finalists in 2013.

In the section final, they booked their place at Leamington as they thrashed Berkshire’s Neil Gauld and family partner from Reading 24-8 to qualify for the last eight once more.

Should the Morphets win their quarter-final match they would then play Yorkshire’s Tim and Sam Winter (West Park, Hull) or Devon’s Simon and Lee Haywood (Shaldon).

SHRIVENHAM Bowls Club will have a representative at Victoria Park, Leamington Spa on Monday in the ladies fours championship.

Despite losing by a shot 19-18 to Julie Howe, Carol Dover, Caroline Hitt and Helen Jones (Suttons) in the Berkshire fours final staged last weekend at Suttons, Reading, the Shrivenham foursome of Val Carter, Cathy Hope, Yvonne Randall and Helen Simpson still qualify to represent Berkshire in the ladies fours championship that commences on Monday afternoon.