Wiltshire opened their Middleton Cup campaign with an excellent 126-99 win over Warwickshire at Coventry.

There were wins for the rinks skipped by Mark Dyer, Graham Shadwell, Dave Snell and Steve Warren, while Neil Smith and Ian Jefferies narrowly lost.

Mark Dyer's rink held a 16-13 lead at 15 ends, then scored 10 shots over the last six ends with only one in reply to record a fine 26-14 win.

England international Graham Shadwell led his rink to a splendid 27-14 success, having been in command throughout the match.

Trailing 9-15 at 18 ends, Dave Snell's rink scored seven shots without reply to secure a 16-15 victory and two valuable points.

The rink skipped by Ian Jefferies were 9-15 behind at 16 ends, but hit back superbly with a fine scoring sequence to put themselves level with only two ends to go, only for Warwickshire to snatch a 15-18 win.

Steve Warren, named for his first international series in July, impressively led his rink to a hard-fought 27-21 triumph, scoring two counts of six in the process.

Neil Smith's rink had the daunting task of facing new England international Graham Ashby's quartet and trailed 1-7 after five ends, but battled back to lose by only 15-17.

SCORES: Mark Dyer 26, S Thomas 14: Graham Shadwell 27, D. Caldwell 14: Dave Snell 16, T Francis 15: Ian Jefferies 15, A Smith 18: Steve Warren 27, S Davies 21: Neil Smith 15, G Ashby 17. (Wilts 18 points, Warwicks 4).

Wiltshire's next Middleton Cup match will be against Worcestershire at Kidderminster on June 21 and the selectors have named an unchanged team. It is:

Barry Sictorness (Wootton Bassett), Des Rideout, Mel Biggs and Mark Dyer (all Westlecot).

Mike Tyler (Amesbury), Russell Francis (Spencer Moulton), Keith Hutchens (Westinghouse) and Graham Shadwell (Spencer Moulton).

Kevin Embling (Westlecot), Nigel Price (Cooper-Avon), Graham Hatherall (Westlecot) and Dave Snell (Wootton Bassett).

John Thomas (Westlecot), John Williamson (Wootton Bassett), Mike Jackson and Ian Jefferies (both Westlecot).

Barney Fernandes (Swindon), Gary Morphet (Rodbourne Cheney), Steve Snell (Wootton Bassett) and Steve Warren (Westlecot).

Michael Snell (Wootton Bassett), Mick Crook (Amesbury), Neil Hope (Westlecot) and Neil Smith (Wootton Bassett).

Travelling reserves: Chris Cheesley (Purton) and Tony Stevenson (Westlecot).

The selectors have named the Wiltshire under 25 team for the regional finals at Bath on Sunday.

There are two changes on Neil Hope's rink, with Michael Richards (West End) and Jason White (Marlborough) coming in for Stewart Tait and Jamie Titcombe.

The winners will go through to the national semi-finals at Worthing in August.

Team: Arran Tucker (Spencer Moulton), Luke Meehan (Corsham), Ian Williams (Purton) and Russell Francis (Spencer Moulton).

Michael Richards (West End), Jason White (Marlborough), Michael Snell (Wootton Bassett) and Neil Hope (Westlecot).

Reserves: Andrew Harper (Corsham) and Adam Marshall (Wootton Bassett).

The Wiltshire Vice Presidents' Bowls Association lost 118-103 against Somerset CBA Patrons at Melksham.

Scores: T Mitchell 14, G Checketts 21. T Peglar 15, S Dias 20. A Bowell 16, L Hillard 14. J Hunter 19, D Lush 28. H Penfold 20, R Pearce 17. V Williams 19, J Fletcher 18.

The next game is on Sunday against Wiltshire BA at Westlecot BC Swindon.