NORTH WILTS Ladies march on into round five in the women’s national inter-club championship for the Yetton Trophy.

Winners of this top ladies national competition in 2008, the Westcroft -based Chippenham side followed up victories over Thornbury, Clarrie Dunbar and Bristol with a 16-shot fourth round success over Somerset side Ilminster last Saturday.

North Wilts were quickly out of the starting blocks to lead 30-9 across the board after five ends and never looked back, to run out well deserved 87-71 victors and reach the last 16 in the national team competition.

At halfway, they were 38-29 up and moved 61-45 clear at 15 ends, 77-55 at 18 before registering a16-shot success at 21 in this Wiltshire and Somerset inter-county section final.

North Wilts, who were forced to make a couple of changes to their home rinks from the previous Bristol match because of illness, took the honours on three of the four rinks with Alex Jacobs’ away quartet recording the biggest winning margin of 20 shots.

There was also a good win for Fizz Mace’s four (11 shots) while Sue Cooke away edged home on the last end by a single shot.

At home Janet Hardie’s rink struggled in the second-half against Ilminster.

North Wilts Ladies progress to round five (last 16) and will now play Devon and Cornwall section winners Plymouth, who edged home 73-70 against Torquay United in the last round, on Saturday January 24 (11am) on the neutral green at Taunton Deane.

The prize for the winners is a quarter-final tie against Bournemouth or Adur (Southwick, West Sussex) on February 14.

RESULTS

Home - Rink 2: Shirley Palfrey, Viv Baskerville, Evelyn Tape & Fizz Mace beat Maureen Mitchell 28-17. Rink 3: Margaret Cooke, Jean Pascoe, Barbara Shepheard & Janet Hardie lost to Dot Whelan 11-27.

Away - Rink 1: Ann Roberts-Phare, Jane Taylor, Irene Button & Alex Jacobs beat Sue Spurway 30-10. Rink 2: Norma Rowden, Karen Funnell, Jean Collier & Sue Cooke beat June Checketts 18-17.

Score: North Wilts beat Ilminster 87-71.

THE LADIES at North Wilts will be hoping to complete a double this week in women’s national inter-club team knock-out competitions.

After a second round 91-81 sucess over Bristol in the Vivienne Trophy they thumped Nailsea by 32 shots in a 96-64 victory in the next round prior to the December festive break.

Today (Thursday 1.45pm) this side returns to the green in a fourth round tie (last 16) against Devon side Isca (Exeter) - two rinks home and two away - seeking a quarter-final spot against either Dolphin (Poole, Dorset) or Palmerston (Fareham, Hants).

North Wilts field three unchanged rinks but make two changes, one positional, to an away rink at Isca with Marilyn Mayhead replacing Pam Blackman while Eriona Carpenter and Meryl Williams switch places at number three and skip.

TEAM

Home - Rink 1: Julie Underhill, Margaret Walker, Sue Hodkin & Brenda Bowen. Rink 2: June Coyle, Jan Tombs, Lyn Brown & Ann Greenland.

Away - Rink 1: Ann White, Pam West, Rosemary Fitzpatrick & May Brand. Rink 2: Marilyn Mayhead, Beryl Walters, Meryl Williams & Eriona Carpenter.