WILTSHIRE men were beaten in their first friendly of the 2014 season going down by 14 shots to Dorset.

Under the stewardship of county indoor president Keith Baker (Westlecot) they led for the first half of the match played at North Wilts but faded in the latter stages as they went down 131-117.

Wiltshire led 28-24 at five ends across the board and 59-52 at ten but had been caught and passed to trail 89-85 at15 and 109-102 at 18.

Rink honours were even being shared at 3-3 with Dave Williams and Alan Small’s fours recording 15 and 13 shot victories respectively while Maurice Byron’s quartet after being 22-9 up at 18 ends eventually won by the much narrower margin of only four shots.

However, these plus scores could not compensate for the six shots loss by Ron Salbury’s foursome, the nine shot loss by Martin Salter’s quartet who led 12-8 at ten ends, and the heavy 31 shot reserve suffered by president Baker’s rink.

Wiltshire’s next two friendly games are both home matches at North Wilts against Somerset and Gloucestershire on January 12 and 18.

RESULTS

Rink 1: Derek Smith, (Swindon Manor), Peter Naish (Christie Miller, Melksham), Bob Roberts-Phare (North Wilts, Chippenham) and Martin Salter (Swindon Westlecot) lost to Paul Tidby 18-27. Rink 2: Dave Edmonds, Brian Mace, Peter Sanders & Alan Small (all NW) beat Maurice Roll 27-14. Rink 3: Gavin Newman, Mick Walker (both SW), Jim Wilkie (NW) & Keith Baker (pres. SW) lost to Terry Buck 7-38. Rink 4: Jim Cremin (SW), Arthur Fletcher (NW), Gerry Vincent (SW) & Maurice Byron (NW) beat Jack Smith 22-18. Rink 5: John White (SW), Fred Tape, Clive Swift & Dave Williams (all NW) beat Dale Mason 27-12. Rink 6: Don French (NW), John Duncan, Ken Bray (both CM) & Ron Salsbury (SW) lost to Steve Weston 16-22.

Score: Wiltshire lost to Dorset 117-131.

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