WILTSHIRE Ladies made a disappointing start to this season’s Johns Trophy campaign losing their opening match in the group sections of the inter-county championship to Dorset at home at Devizes.

They lost by 18 shots going down to the south coast county 115-97.

The county ladies only won on two of the six rinks and drew on another.

Box duo Carol Grenfell and Alex Jacobs were the successful skips leading their quartets to eight and two shot victories respectively.

Delia Godwin’s rink fought back from 10-6 down at 10 ends and 14-12 down at 18 to snatch a 15-15 draw.

These three rinks earned five points for Wiltshire with Dorset taking the other 17 points for their overall win.

Wiltshire were always behind in the match, trailing 24-20 across the board after five ends, 53-49 at ten, 85-65 at 15. But they did cut the gap to only 94-86 at 18 ends but fell away again and finally lost 115-97.

RESULTS

Rink 1: Dawn Toomer (Wilton), Jean Collier (Box), Laura Laytham (Town Gardens) & Rose Fitzpatrick (Chippenham Town) lost to Jenny Andrews 14-26. Rink 2: Lucy Smith (Royal Wootton Bassett), Deanne Davis (Wanborough), Margaret Annetts (Salisbury) & Carol Grenfell (Box) beat Lyn Howard 18-10. Rink 3: Chris Mitchell (Purton), Sue Cooke (Box), Alison Fail (Purton) & Alex Jacobs (Box) beat Bev Plympton 21-19. Rink 4: Viv Baskerville (Chip T), Charlotte Daniell (RWB), Janice Bull (Amesbury) & Kathryn Yeoman (Box) lost to Margaret Crawford 20-23. Rink 5: Katy Smith (RWB), Georgina Newman (Avon), Debbie Shadwell (Box) & Marcia Hartley (Avon) lost to Sue Willis 9-22. Rink 6: Kara Little (Box), Ann Hindley (Wilton), Janet Willis (Stratton Churchway) & Delia Godwin drew with Margaret Clapp 15-15.

Score: Wiltshire lost to Dorset 97-115 and by 5pts to 17pts.

NATIONAL PAIRS have reached the last eight stage in the southern section of the county ladies draw and were scheduled to be contested on Friday night to leave four qualifiers for the quarter-finals to join the four northern section qualifiers.

However, two of the last 16 ties in the south were postponed on Monday night due to the weather and should now have been re-arranged and played.

They were the ties between Lyn Stanford and Janice Rowe (Amesbury) versus Ellen Styles and Marie Greenwood (Devizes) and the game between Georgina Newman and Marcia Hartley (Avon) against another Devizes duo of Bev Lilley and Sheila Garlick.

Box have a powerful line-up through to Friday night’s last eight with four pairings, but they have all been drawn against each other. Devizes potentially have two pairings left running as do Amesbury.

The national two wood singles competition clicks into gear this Saturday with matches being played in the northern section at Pewsey BC (10.15am) and in the south section at both Avon and Spencer Melksham same starting time.

The last four players left standing at Pewsey together with the last two at both Melksham venues Avon and Spencer will progress to the quarter-finals and semi-finals at Wroughton on Friday, June 16 (5.45pm).

Once again two places at Royal Leamington Spa representing Wiltshire ladies in the national two wood championship singles are up for grabs.

DRAW

South pairs last eight, Friday June 9: Lyn Stanford & Janice Rowe (Amesbury) or Ellen Styles & Marie Greenwood (Devizes) v Anne Humphries & Janice Bull (Amesbury); Karen Funnell & Jean Collier (Box) v Kara Little & Debbie Shadwell (Box); Lauren Williams & Michele Williams (Box) v Sue Cooke & Alex Jacobs (Box); Dawn Toomer & Lesley Trattles (Wilton) v Georgina Newman & Marcia Hartley (Avon) or Bev Lilley & Sheila Garlick (Devizes).

DEVIZES Bowls Club are 100 years old this year and continue their centenary celebrations with three special matches this month.

They host Bowls Wiltshire men’s side for a six rink match on their green at Long Street this coming Saturday (2pm).

Then four days later on Tuesday June 13 (1.30pm start) they host the Bowls England representative side lead by 2017 president Viv Tomlinson (Lancashire) for an eight rink mixed match which has been kindly sponsored by local firm Renelec Groundworks Ltd.

The hat-trick of special matches in June is completed eight days later on Wednesday June 21 when Devizes welcome the Chelsea Pensioners to their green for a six rink match starting at 2.0pm which has been sponsored by another local firm MM Carpet and Flooring Supplies.

TEAMS

Devizes v Bowls Wiltshire men on Saturday, June 10 (at 2pm), Rink 1: Mike Alexander, Phil Coombes, Keith Scrannage & Trefor Jones. Rink 2: Harry Garlick, Bernard Fox, John Scoffield & Colin Little. Rink 3: Ken Surman, Richard Bradfield, Tom Mullins & Dave Reeves. Rink 4: Bryan Reeves, Martin Thompson, Dave Greenwood & Gerald Webb. Rink 5: Bill Cowan, Phil Cave, Terry Miles & Pete Fielding. Rink 6: Harry Crate, Ken Oliver, Robin Drake & Jonathan Cook.

Bowls Wilts, Rink 1: Pete Sanders (IPP), Stewart Allison (SVP), Dave Williams (JVP) & John Southern (2017 men’s president). Rink 2: Gerry and Graeme Vincent (both Highworth), Sid Jay (Spencer Melksham) & Alan Penfold (Supermarine). Rink 3: Alec Burden (Amesbury), John Snell (Alderbury), Brian Merritt (Salisbury) & Roger Button (Chippenham Town). Rink 4: Peter Naish , Cliff Gumm (both Trowbridge Westbourne), Clive Swift (Blue Circle) & Bob Fredericks (Salisbury). Rink 5: Barry Folland (Salisbury), Sid Wilson (Pewsey Vale), Dave Richards (Trow West) & Bill Collier (Amesbury). Rink 6: Ken Bray, Malcolm Hole, Colin Easton & Tom Newman (all Avon).

Devizes v Bowls England, Tues June 13 (at 1.30pm) Rink 1: Keith Scrannage, Michael Lichtwark, John Scoffield & Marguerite Alexander. Rink 2: Joyce Little, Roy Chumbley, Julie Romijn & Trefor Jones. Rink 3: Pat Miller, Debbie Greenwood, Tom Mullins & Wendy Gaisford. Rink 4: Ellen Stiles, Ken Oliver, Lesley Russell & Dave Greenwood. Rink 5: Mike Alexander, Isobel Scoffield, Chris Merrifield & Sheila Garlick. Rink 6: Rose Merritt, Dave Russell, Patricia Reeves & Gerald Webb. Rink 7: Harry Garlick, Will Wrobel, Sue Long & Bev Lilley. Rink 8: Marie Greenwood, Phil Cave, Rosemary Keen & Colin Little.