HOLT’S quartet of Wayne Simmonds, Justin Davis, Wayne Snook and Ben Gabb bowed out of the National Championships men’s fours in the second round.

At Royal Leamington Spa, representing Wiltshire, the team from Holt defeated the Yorkshire representatives 22-8 before Nick Jones’ four from Hampshire’s Boscombe Park proved too strong as they claimed a 22-10 victory in the second round.

In the Champion of Champions event, Russell Francis reached the final but had to settle for the runners up spot after being edged out 21-17 by Hertfordshire’s Glen Williams.

In the national triples category, Wiltshire’s A side of Simmonds, Davis and Snook lost to Devon A 22-10 after beating Bedfordshire B 18-10 and Gloucestershire 16-12 en route, while the B side of Davis, Rob Jeffreys and Pete Hardie defeated Lincolnshire A 21-14 before losing 22-5 to Lancashire.

In the ladies senior fours, Wilton’s Ann Hindley, Dawn Toomer, Lesley Trattles and Cathy Burrows beat Bolton’s Christine Hardman 20-17 before bowing out 26-22 to Surrey.

In the mixed pairs, Royal Wootton Bassett’s Lucy Smith and Spencer Moulton’s Graham Shadwell combined to beat Sussex’s Shelia Turner and Des Foord 21-12 before losing 20-19 to Elaine Score and Edward Morris of Essex.

Holt’s Tony Keating suffered a 21-17 defeat to Bedfordshire’s Martin Dawkins in his opening match in the senior singles.

The Spencer Moulton duo of Gary Fippen and Nick Grenfall won their preliminary round pairs match against John Trusell and Ash Plater 20-13, however, they were beaten 18-16 in the first round by Essex, while Alex Wickham and Steve Heseltine suffered a 22-10 defeat to Kent C.

Trowbridge’s Dave Betteridge claimed a 16-10 success over Norfolk B in the two-wood singles preliminary round before suffering a 16-9 loss to Lincolnshire B, while Bassett’s Kyle Anderson was beaten 15-11 by Hampshire A.

Box ladies have reached the quarter-finals of the Top Club competition after their 80-61 success over Welford-on-Avon.

In the Wiltshire play-offs, Spencer Moulton suffered an 88-66 quarter-final defeat to Westlecot, while Royal Wootton Bassett have progressed to the semi-final after their 91-52 success over Amesbury.

Joining Bassett in the last four is Chippenham Town following their 92-61 success over Highworth.