WILTSHIRE men endured mixed fortunes in their two inter-county championship matches last weekend at Royal Wootton Bassett.

On Saturday, they were beaten 113-103 by Warwickshire in their opening Middleton Cup group match of the season, but bounced back 24 hours later to defeat Somerset narrowly 43-40 in their first round Balcombe Trophy (double rinks) tie.

Wiltshire have won their west group for the past four years to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Middleton Cup with Bassett proving to be a home fortress for them, but last weekend they could not halt the invading Warwickshire side who led from start to finish to cause a big shock.

The Moonrakers, after a poor start, were only 26-22 down across the board after five ends but 63-46 at halfway and further adrift 86-60 at 15.

They were 101-74 behind at 18 ends but then rallied with a big surge to cut the gap to only six shots 101-95 at 19.

However, visitors Warwickshire rode out the  storm to finish with a 10-shot advantage winning 113-103 after 21 ends.

Wiltshire shared the rink honours 3-3 but the heavy rink losses incurred by Graham Shadwell’s four (15 shots) and Stephen Snell (10) proved decisive as they only took six of the 22 points.

The Moonrakers will need to win all of their remaining three group matches against Dorset, Worcestershire and Somerset and hope other results go their way, starting this Saturday when they entertain Dorset at Royal Wootton Bassett, to have any chance of winning the group.

The selectors have made a couple of positional switches as well as three changes to the team for the Dorset game with Bassett pair Gary Morphet and Chris Cheesley plus Chris Poole (Holt) dropped to the substitutes bench.

Adam Bolwell (Winsley) comes into the side to make his Middleton Cup debut as does Salisbury’s James Reynolds while there is a recall for Amesbury’s Nick Revell.

Disappointed Wiltshire team manager Dave Snell said: “This was obviously not the result we were looking for.

“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 10 ends we were only nine shots adrift and still well in the match, but five ends later 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.”

“This was our first loss at home (Royal Wootton Bassett) for a number of years, but we had three winning rinks skipped by Ben Gadd +13 shots, Neil Smith +8 shots and Mel Biggs +2 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 lost to Warwickshire 103-113 and by 6pts to 16pts.

TWENTY FOUR hours later, Wiltshire bounced back with a hard-fought three shots win over Somerset in the Balcombe Trophy (inter-counties double rinks) competition.

Wiltshire shared the rink honours one-all with a win for Ben Gadd’s foursome but a defeat for Graham Shadwell’s quartet.

“This was a very competitive game and very close all the way with Wiltshire just coming out on top on the very last end,” said team manager Snell.

“After five ends Wiltshire took a small lead of four shots and this did not change by the 10th end with Wiltshire still edging the game by four shots.

“But at 15 ends we had pulled away into an 11 shot lead but Somerset fought back and by the 18th end we were only three up.

“This was always going to the wire and with Graham Shadwell already finished and losing by 10 shots and with Ben Gadd’s rink with one end to play were 10 up so it came down to the last end.

“Wiltshire were holding two shots and Neil Smith drew a front toucher, so with four bowls to come Ben drew to back woods to cover the drive and fortunately Nick Pearce missed with both his drives.”

Wiltshire qualified to the regional finals to be played at Clevedon in two weeks' time

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.

HOLT trio Wayne Simmonds, Wayne Snook and Ben Gadd put the disappointment of losing their triples title behind them a week earlier on their own green to reach the semi-finals in the Wiltshire men’s fours competition along with Justin Davis which they won in 2014.

In the re-arranged fours quarter-finals held at Bassett last Friday evening they were always ahead of a senior four from Westlecot.

They led 14-5 at halfway (11 ends), but only 17-15 after 19 ends but closed out the match 21-15 with a pair of twos.

However, the other Holt rink led by Stuart Oliver waved the white flag after only 12 ends when 23-1 down against Amesbury skipped by Nick Revell. Their only joy was a single on end number eight.

In the all-Royal Wootton Bassett clash between Stephen Snell’s quartet and Mel Biggs’ foursome the former’s team came from 13-7 at 11 ends and 16-10 at 15 to beat Biggs 19-17.

And in the other game played Purton beat Highworth narrowly 17-15 with a two on the last end.

The two triples and two fours semi-finals were due to be played at Devizes this Sunday (10am) but only one of each will now take place.

This is because several players are members of the U25 side competing in the White Rose Trophy regional final at Bristol.

The matches that are taking place is the fours semi-final between Holt (Wayne Simmonds, Justin Davis, Wayne Snook & Ben Gadd) versus Purton’s Dave Hall, Eric Collier, Colin Baker and Dave Jones.

And the triples semi-final between Westlecot (Keith Williamson, Kevin Carter and Ray Sowden) and hosts Devizes (Dave Reeves, Trefor Jones and Gerald Webb).

Wiltshire Men’s junior side will be bidding for a place in the last four at the national championships at Royal Leamington Spa in August this Sunday when they compete in Bristol (10am).

The U25 side after beating Warwickshire recently qualified for the last four in the west regional finals of the White Rose Trophy, inter-counties U25 double rinks competition.

Wiltshire have been drawn against Devon in the semi-finals (10am) and if successful would then face either Somerset or Worcestershire (2pm) for a place in the final.

The team selected shows two positional switches and one change to the one that won their first round match 39-31 against Warwickshire with James Richman coming into the side for Craig Morphet who reverts to the reserves bench

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).