WILTSHIRE teams record a mixed bag of results in the inter-county championships last weekend.

The county men’s side produced a strong second-half display to come from behind to beat Oxfordshire 135-121 in the Liberty Trophy, but the ladies lost 128-95 to Dorset in the Atherley Trophy.

Wiltshire men were pushed hard by neighbours Oxfordshire, who adapted quickly at Westlecot to lead 38-25 after five ends and 64-63 at halfway.

However, Wiltshire grabbed the lead 98-85 at 15 ends and increased the advantage to 116-100 after 18 before running out 135-121 winners at the allotted 21 ends.

The rink honours were shared 3-3, with honours going to the foursome of Jordan Moody (Five Rivers, Salisbury), Graham and Craig Hatherall and Phil Gregory (all Westlecot) who won 31-10 success.

They were followed by the quartet of Gary Fountain (Five Rivers), Dave Williams (North Wilts) and Westlecot duo Mel Biggs and Neil Smith, who won 27-20.

Close on their heels were the North Wilts duo of Tom Newman and Darren Anteney, plus Westlecot’s Dave Godwin and Kyle Anderson, with a 27-22 success.

Andy Moore’s rink were edged out 17-15, while the all Five Rivers rink led by Tom Warner lost 24-16. The final rink loss was sustained by the all Westlecot rink skipped by Mike Titcombe 28-19.

Wiltshire will face Devon in a home quarter-final on January 12.

Meanwhile, Wiltshire’s ladies were dealt a tough second round home match against last season’s Atherley Trophy runners-up Dorset and struggled against the coastal county.

Wiltshire ladies made a brilliant start to lead 35-16 after five ends, but after Dorset had adapted to the green at North Wilts in Chippenham, the hosts fell behind and trailed 54-46 after 10 ends.

It was all downhill from there on as Dorset powered away to victory. The visitors led 83-67 at 15 ends, 107-79 after 18 and finally won 128-95.

Wiltshire ladies managed to win on one rink and draw another, however, they lost on the other four.

The lone success came from the quartet of Janet Willis, Sue Reeve, Judy Hallard (all Westlecot) and Ann Hindley (Five Rivers) 19-18.

The foursome of Jean Collier, Jan Tombs, Sue Pitman (all North Wilts) and Janice Rowe (Five Rivers) earned a 16-16 draw.

However, the other four rinks skipped by June Coleman (Five Rivers) (17-10) as well as the North Wilts trio of Irene Button (27-13), Bev Lilley (25-20) and Fizz Mace (25-17) all lost heavily.

  • NORTH Wilts’ men are enjoying their best run in the Central region of the Wessex League for several seasons.

Last Sunday, they beat Nailsea 102-59 for their third win of the campaign to go into the festive break as regional leaders and with every chance of booking a place in the end-of-season play-offs.

The win over Nailsea earned the Chippenham-based club 14 points to move them six points clear of second-placed St Andrews (Weston) and 16 clear of third-placed Clarrie Dunbar (Standerwick, Frome).

North Wilts took the honours on three of the rinks, two at home and one away in Nailsea.

The foundations for victory were secured at home with a massive 40 shots success on the two rinks.

The foursome of Alan Greenland, Graham Whitfield, Rich Gainey and skip Nigel Price won their match 33-9, while the quartet of Richard Buckland, Miles Pickering, Trevor Cooke and skip Darren Anteney were not far behind with a big 30-14 success.

Away in Nailsea, Tom Newman’s rink were trailing for three quarters of their game, but a late flourish saw them win 24-18.

The only loss came on Andy Moore’s rink as they were edged out 18-15.

Across the board, North Wilts led 23-16 at five ends, 42-29 after 10, 69-47 at 15 and won convincingly 102-59.

North Wilts do not play again until January 20 when they face Purnell (Paulton).