TEAMS from Chippenham Town and Malmesbury missed out on booking a place in the ladies county triples final and securing a place at the national championships at Royal Leamington Spa in early August.

Malmesbury's team of Joan Long, Heather Pope and Marlene Aylward went down 19-9 to favourites Box in their quarter-final match at Chippenham Town last Saturday morning.

Chippenham Town’s host team of Barbara Shepheard, Jan Boden and Viv Baskerville safely negotiated their quarter-final, beating Wilton 21-13 after a strong start which saw them 10-0 up at five ends and with a big count of four on the 18th and last end.

However, their hopes of a place in the county ladies finals at the end of July at Alderbury and a place in the triples at Leamington were dashed in the semi-finals as they were beaten 17-8 by Purton.

They were tied 4-4 after five ends but then lost the next four ends to trail Purton 10-4 at halfway.

Chippenham were 16-5 down after 12 ends and could not close the gap significantly and finally lost to Purton 17-8 who had knocked-out a Box team skipped by Carol Grenfell in the quarter-finals 22-14.

In the bottom half of the quarter-finals draw Box, skipped by Alex Jacobs, defeated Malmesbury 19-9 while in the other last eight match Salisbury accounted for Westlecot 15-11.

The semi-final between Box and Salisbury produced a surprise result with the latter winning after a fine recovery and strong finish 15-13.

Box were 7-0 up after five ends but tied 9-9 at 11. Box then moved 13-10 up after 14 ends but failed to score again and lost 15-13 at 18 ends.

Salisbury and Purton will meet in county ladies triples final at Alderbury on July 29 and represent Wiltshire in the national triples championship at Royal Leamington Spa a fortnight later.

The county ladies pairs championship now takes centre stage for the next three weeks with the quarter and semi-finals being held on Saturday, June 17 at Swindon Westlecot.

TRIPLES RESULTS

Quarter-finals at Chippenham Town, Rink 4: Karen Funnell, Jean Collier and Carol Grenfell (Box) lost to Chris Mitchell, Julie Jones and Alison Fail (Purton) 14-22. Rink 5: Barbara Shepheard, Jan Boden (sub for Barbara Land) and Viv Baskerville (Chippenham Town) beat Glenda Hibberd, Dawn Toomer and Cathy Burrows (Wilton) 21-13. Rink 3: Joan Long, Heather Pope and Marlene Aylward (Malmesbury) lost to Debbie Shadwell, Sue Cooke and Alex Jacobs (Box) 9-19. Rink 2: Di Kerley, Sandy Hall and Margaret Annetts (Salisbury) beat Jayne Croston, Carole Coombs and Lynda Whittingham (Westlecot) 15-11.

Semi-finals, Rink 3: Alison Fail beat Viv Baskerville 17-8. Rink 5: Margaret Annetts beat Alex Jacobs 15-13.

THE second round in both the northern and southern sections of the ladies county and national pairs championships are due to be staged at various venues around the county on Friday evening, with the third round scheduled for next Monday evening.

The four qualifiers in the northern section, which includes Royal Wootton Bassett, Malmesbury, Pewsey Vale and Calne, plus the Chippenham clubs Town, Park and North Wilts, will be known.

They will join the four third-round winners from the southern section, in which Box compete, to contest the county pairs quarter and semi-finals on Saturday, June 17 at Swindon Westlecot.

The prize for the two teams left standing at Westlecot after the semis is the opportunity to represent Wiltshire at the national championships in the pairs at Leamington and face each other in the Wiltshire ladies pairs final at Alderbury on July 19.