EIGHT ladies are still left running in the premier Wiltshire women’s championship event, the national singles, after the third round (last eight) in both the north and south sections were completed on Monday.

Two players from both Box and Royal Wootton Bassett - holder Jean Collier and Alex Jacobs from the former club as well as youngsters Charlotte Daniell and Katy Smith from Bassett - booked their places in the quarter-finals and semi-finals scheduled to be played this Saturday at Devizes (10.15am).

They will be joined by four other qualifiers, Viv Baskerville (Chippenham Town), Alison Fail (Purton) from the northern section in the county and Wilton duo Ann Hindley and Lesley Trattles from the south.

All eight ladies will be bidding at Devizes to reach the last two in order to book a place in the county singles final at Supermarine on July 30 and also claim the honour of representing Wiltshire at Royal Leamington Spa next month in the singles at the ladies national championships.

Of the eight qualifiers, only two players have won the ladies singles title before - the Box duo of Collier and Jacobs.

Collier won the singles title last season for the first time with a comfortable 21-7 win over Purton’s Chris Mitchell while Jacobs has lifted the trophy twice before in 2002 when beating Joan Tugwell (Trowbridge Westbourne) and 1998 when victorious over Wendy Anderson (Rodbourne Cheney).

DRAW

Sat July 18 (at Devizes 10.15am) quarter-finals: Lesley Trattles (Wilton) v Alison Fail (Purton); Viv Baskerville (Chippenham Town) v Jean Collier (holder Box); Charlotte Daniell (Royal Wootton Bassett) v Ann Hindley (Wilton); Katy Smith (RWB) v Alex Jacobs (Box).

The four winners will contest the semi-finals in the afternoon.

WILTSHIRE Ladies hopes of reaching the last four in the Walker Cup at the national championships in August at Royal Leamington Spa came to an end in the west regional final played last Sunday at Winscombe (Somerset).

After a narrow hard fought 38-34 win over Dorset in the last round in the inter-counties double rinks championship they lost out to Devon in the regional semi-final despite winning on one of the rinks.

Rink honours were tied at 1-1 with Alex Jacobs’ quartet recording an excellent 11 shots 26-15 victory but the heavy loss of 23 shots by Carol Grenfell’s foursome proved to be extremely costly for Wiltshire.

Worcestershire won the other semi-final beating hosts Somerset 42-39 but had to give second best to Wiltshire’s conquers Devon in the final losing by four shots 38-34.

Devon will be the west’s representatives at Royal Leamington Spa next month alongside the other regional victors Kent (south), Leicestershire (east) and Durham (north).

RESULTS

Rink 1: Alison Fail (Purton), Margaret Annetts (Salisbury), Sue Cooke & Alex Jacobs (both Box) beat Jan Roberts, Hayley James, Muriel Scott & Joan Martin 26-15. Rink 2: Jean Collier (Box), Katy Smith (Royal Wootton Bassett), Linda Kingston (Highworth) & Carol Grenfell (Box) lost to Sophie Tolchard, Lorraine Hackett, Sue Evans & Liz Smerdon 10-33.

Score: Wiltshire lost to Devon 36-48.

THE COUNTY ladies teams also had no joy in two matches played earlier last week on successive days.

They went down 116-95 away at Aldershot Underwood Bowls Club losing a friendly match to Hampshire by 21 shots while the next day at home at Stratton Churchway they suffered another South West Counties League reverse losing to Herefordshire 119-107 and only winning on two rinks to collect four of the 22 points on offer.

RESULTS (skips only) v Hampshire (friendly)

Rink 1: Margaret Annetts drew with L Hayward 16-16. Rink 2: Rose Fitzpatrick lost to M Leppard 14-24. Rink 3: Trish Jarrett lost to M Holden 14-27. Rink 4: F Mace beat B Sparling 19-16. Rink 5: Babs Salter lost to B Plumpton 13-20. Rink 6: Margaret Woolley beat B Muncey 19-13.

Score: Wiltshire lost to Hampshire 95-116.

v Herefordshire (SWCL)

Rink 1: Sue Cooke lost to M Wheatley 17-29. Rink 2: Carol Grenfell lost to J Bowen 12-30. Rink 3: Sue Ochyra lost to J Cole 16-23. Rink 4: Alex Jacobs beat B Havard 32-6. Rink 5: Margaret Woolley lost to B Griffiths 10-17. Rink 6: Margaret Annetts beat R Owen 20-14.

Score: Wiltshire lost to Herefordshire 107-119 and by 4pts to 18pts.