A DISAPPOINTING weekend was endured by male bowlers from this area of the county at the 2019 men’s county national finals that were staged at Devizes.

From eight finals and one semi-final that were contested, only four winners came from west Wiltshire.

Chris Cheesley (Royal Wootton Bassett) beat club colleague Kyle Anderson 21-19 to claim his first-ever county men’s singles title.

There was another all-club final as two foursomes from Chippenham Town battled it out for the senior fours crown, with Rob Clews, Jim Fitzpatrick, Richard Gainey and Willie Jones beating Kevin Ringham, Martin Clark, Roger Workman and Nobby Tucker 18-13.

The two other successes from this area came in the two-wood singles and triples.

Holt’s Wayne Snook defeated Nick Revell (Salisbury) 16-13 in the two-wood singles, while the Bassett trio of Anderson, Dave Godwin and Steve Snell beat Spencer Moulton’s Ashley Kierl, Russ Francis and Graham Shadwell in the triples final 20-11.

It was the second defeat of the day for Francis and Shadwell as they lost the pairs final on the last end 20-19 to Westlecot’s Paul Kistle and James Richman despite leading for a majority of the match.

While Avon’s Tom Newman suffered two defeats against Westlecot players. He lost the junior singles final to Nathan Richards 21-18 and the U25 pairs together with Tom Little to Jake Webster and Mike Titcombe 28-11.

The other loss came in the only semi-final of the weekend as Holt’s Chris Moore, Chris Poole, Matt Tucker and Tony Keating crashed out of the fours semi-final to Westlecot 26-8.

  • BOX’S mixed team have qualified for the quarter-finals of the Tony Allcock Trophy – the O60s double rinks competition.

The west Wiltshire club have won the Dorset/Hampshire/ Isle of Wight/Wiltshire Area 6 of the competition.

On their way to the last eight, Box beat Spencer Melksham 38-26 in the first round, followed that with a 30-28 win over Chippenham Town and then beat Sherborne 34-31.

They had a 39-22 success over Atherley (Southampton) in round four and then beat Fareham (Hants) 43-29 to reach the last eight and book a place in the mixed senior double rinks play-offs at the nationals.

Box won on both rinks, with Carol Grenfell, Jean Collier, Maurice Byron and Nick Grefell winning 16-13 and Paul Netherwood, Ian Higgins, Sue Cooke and Alex Jacobs triumphing 27-16.

  • THREE places are assured in the scramble for a top-four finish in the southern area of the Wiltshire men’s four-rink league to qualify for the play-offs.

There are 15 teams in the south section, which Holt currently top with 162 points from 13 games.

Holders Chippenham Town lie in second with 152 points from 12 games and have two remaining.

Both clubs are undefeated this season and were due to clash this week.

The other club guaranteed a top-three finish are Salisbury on 148 points from 13 games.

The battle for the remaining place will go right down to the wire as only five points separate three clubs vying for the crucial fourth spot.

They are Spencer Melksham on 115 points from 13 games, Spencer Moulton on 114 points from 12 matches and Avon on 110 points from 13 matches.