Wiltshire look to future after defeat

Wiltshire's men, urged on by team manager Hedley Bowen, gave their all last weekend in an attempt to win a place in the Middleton Cup semi-finals – and they shared the rinks honours with Berkshire of the Oxford City & County club.

But, while the rinks skipped by Mike Snell (22-14), Mel Biggs (18-13) and Mike Jackson (24-21) returned winning cards, defeats for Graham Shadwell (17-19) and Mark Dyer (17-25), and a particularly damaging 6-25 loss for Neil Smith's quartet, scuppered Wiltshire's hopes.

Bowen said: "There was actually a point in the game, with 20 ends to go, where I felt the momentum had swung our way and we were in with a great chance. Unfortunately, we couldn't maintain that level and the game slipped away from us over the last ten ends."

"I was bitterly disappointed by the result, and so were the team, but I really couldn't have asked for any more from the players or the supporters.

"We are already planning for next year, and there are new ideas emerging, which is great to see. I'm confident that, having reached the last eight for the first time in many years, Wiltshire can now go on to become a force to be reckoned with."

Before the match started last Saturday, Mike Jackson was presented with a memento to mark his 100th Middleton Cup appearance for the county, while Ian Jefferies reached the 75 mark. Given the fact that, in a 'normal' season, a county will play only three or possibly four Middleton Cup matches, and will have the chance to extend that number only if they progress beyond the group stage, topping the ton is a remarkable achievement.

Clevedon duo Laura Holden and Stef Branfield reached the British women's under-25 pairs final at the Bainfield club in Edinburgh on Monday, but were outplayed by the host country's Natalie McWilliams and Gaynor Blair.

Having done well to beat Ireland's Sile Garvey and Cliodhna Edie, 19-16, in the semi-finals, the 2010 English champions crashed to defeat, 22-5, in a one-sided final.

Earlier, Branfield had played her part in England's fine victory in the junior international series, helping her skip Lorraine Kuhler to rink wins of 26-20, 17-11 and 28-13 against Wales, Scotland and Ireland respectively.

England, who finished with a shots advantage of +127, thus won the title for the second year running, and the seventh time in nine years.

Both Somerset and Wiltshire have both made strides with their young women bowlers, regularly entering teams for the national junior championships at Leamington, but many counties find that more boys than girls take up bowls.

With this in mind, the Gloucestershire Bowls Youth Development Scheme (GBYDS) recently held the first bowls event for girls in the county, and were pleased to attract ten competitors.

The day at the Frampton-on-Severn club proved to be a great success, and was enjoyed by competitors and supporters alike. Winners were Daisy Daniels (under-12), Rebecca Bradford (under-14), and Rachael Draisey (under-18).

GBYDS coach Eirona Carpenter says the plan is to enter a county team in the Amy Rose Bowl at Leamington in 2012, and that any girls – or boys for that matter – between eight and eighteen who would like to try bowls should contact Eirona or Patrick Carpenter on 01454 883705.

With two chances of glory per county in all the events (bar one – the Champion of Champions singles) at the national championships, reaching a county final is the goal for ambitious bowlers the length and breadth of England.

Some counties prefer to allow their competitors to go to Leamington and Worthing unbeaten – thereby "keeping their powder dry", and their hopes high – but Wiltshire's women played their county finals last weekend.

Members of the hotly-tipped Box club walked off with two titles – the pairs and two-wood singles, but had to settle for second best in the triples and four-wood singles.

Sue Cooke and Alex Jacobs were given a tough test in the pairs final by Wilton duo Glenda Hibberd and Cathy Burrows, but got home, 21-18, and Karen Funnell made up for her disappointment at losing, 21-9, to Salisbury's Margaret Annetts in the four-wood singles by beating Diana Acheson, from Pewsey, 17-5, to win the two-wood version, which is played over 21 ends.

Sue Burgess and her Warminster quartet had a dramatic victory over favourites Stratton Churchway in the fours final, when, after trailing by one shot at 15 ends, they piled up 15 shots to one over the last six ends to win, 32-19.

Amesbury, skipped by Janice Rowe, won the triples, beating Carol Grenfell's Box trio, 19-10, in the final, and Wootton Bassett's Lucy Smith is Wiltshire's new under-25 singles champion.