North Wilts bowlers march on in Egham Trophy

After opening victories over Malvern Hills 92-81 and Bristol 89-73, they won again last Sunday by defeating Desborough (Maidenhead) 87-84 in a hard-fought third-round tie.

The game was a closely-fought affair, with North Wilts down 22-20 after five ends but edging ahead 43-39 at 10.

The teams were tied 62-62 after 15 ends, however, North Wilts moved 74-71 up at 18 ends and hung on to claim an 87-84 win.

North Wilts won both rinks at home but lost the other two away in Maidenhead.

The Chippenham-based club were indebted to the two home foursomes of Bob George, Barbara Shepheard, Keith Hutchens and skip Alex Jacobs, as well as Irene Button, Maurice Byron, Rich Gainey and skip Sue Cooke.

They won their matches 33-18 and 23-14 respectively and erased the deficit suffered by the Andy Moore’s rink (24-18) and Tom Newman’s quartet (28-13).

North Wilts progress to the last 16 and face Victoria (Street, Somerset) on December 8.

North Wilts are still running in two other national team competitions – the ladies’ Yetton Trophy and O60 double rinks for the Mason Trophy.

The women at Westcroft have qualified for the last 32 of the Yetton Trophy – the top ladies inter-club championship.

A first-round bye was followed by an 88-70 victory over Bristol and then a fine 80-71 success against MidGlos (Brockworth, Gloucester).

Now, North Wilts will meet neighbours Clarrie Dunbar (Standerwick) on December 7.

North Wilts also still have an interest in the O60s Mason Trophy.

Despite North Wilts B losing to Bristol 38-37, the A side are still involved having been awarded a first-round bye. They are due to play Nailsea B on December 6.

• CLARRIE Dunbar are still involved in this year’s Top Club national mixed team competition.

Despite two tough away matches to begin with, they came through both and have qualified for a last-32 tie at home against Dorset side Poole on December 15.

Clarrie won three of the five mixed disciplines in both cases, beating MidGlos 10-6 on points and following up with another 10-6 success over Atherley IBC.

Andy Colebrooke gave Dunbar an excellent start against Atherley by winning the men’s two-wood singles but Jeanette Wheeler lost her singles match.

In the mixed pairs, Jo Dunford and Graham Shadwell thrashed Atherley 23-8.

However, Shirley Samuels, John Freeman and Keith Bailey lost their mixed triples match 21-8.

But the mixed fours team of Debbie Shadwell, Thelma Bailey, Dale Taylor and skip Russell Francis sealed the overall tie with a convincing 27-12 victory.

Clarrie are also still running in the two major men’s and ladies national inter-club championship events for the Denny Cup and Yetton Trophy.

After excellent successes over Malvern Hills (Worcs) 97-64 and Clevedon (Somerset) 90-41, Dunbar have reached round four of the Denny Cup and play Cotswold on December 7.

On the same date, the ladies face a Yetton Trophy fourth-round derby against North Wilts.

To qualify, Clarrie have accounted for Thornbury 79-72 and Clevedon 85-60.

Meanwhile, Dunbar endured mixed fortunes in the men’s national O60s double rinks competition.

The Clarrie Dunbar A side crashed out of the competition 40-18 to Cotswold A side (Stroud), with Francis Parker’s four losing 16-8 at home and Glyn Jones’ rink losing 24-10 away.

But the B side won their second-round tie against North Wilts B 49-23 after Duncan McGovern’s rink won 28-9 and Keith Bailey’s rink triumphed 21-14.

• THIS Sunday, Clarrie Dunbar men return to Wessex League action in the Central League when they face Bristol.

Owing to clashes with national mixed competitions, Clarrie have only played one of their scheduled eight group matches so far.

That was a comprehensive 153-46 shots win over Thornbury that yielded a maximum 16 points.

This places Dunbar in fifth spot, while Bristol are top on 30 points from two games to date.

• LAST weekend, Clarrie Dunbar indoor players Graham Shadwell and Wayne Snook took part in the Open Singles Circuit 2019 Grand Final at Potters Leisure Resort in Norfolk.

They were the only players from the area who finished in the top 32 of the 2018/19 rankings and earned qualification for the Grand Final, which carried a prize fund of over £5,000.

The 32 players were drawn into eight groups of four and contested a round-robin group competition, with the top two progressing to the knockout stages.

Shadwell came second in Group D with six points from his three games, as did Snook in Group C.

However, both Snook and Shadwell went out in the last 16 – the former to Wayne Willgress (Norfolk IBC) and Shadwell to James Rippey (Falcon IBC, Chelmsford, Essex).

Shadwell and Snook both picked up £100 each in prize money.