FOUR local quartets will be bidding today at Amesbury to become the first Wiltshire players to qualify for the 2014 Ladies National Championships, to be staged at Royal Leamington Spa in early August.

A rink from Purton, Wootton Bassett, Highworth and Wanborough have all reached today’s last eight of the county ladies national fours, with the last two left standing after the quarter-finals and semi-finals automatically qualifying to represent Wiltshire at Leamington.

Forty-two combinations entered the Wiltshire fours championship event this year and, on Monday evening, four quartets from both the north and south sections of the county battled their way successfully through the third round to reach the last eight at Amesbury.

Alison Fail’s rink from Purton, beaten in last year’s county fours final, accounted for Alison White (Swindon) 24-15, while Wootton Bassett’s Pat Edmonds, losing semi-finalist in 2013, beat fellow Bassett colleague Bev Williamson 20-17.

Carol Woodbridge’s Wanborough rink eased past Highworth’s Rose Winter 20-16, while the other match in the north section went to the last end, with Linda Kington’s Highworth quartet pipping Janet Willis’s four from Stratton Churchway 16-15.

The south qualifiers were Joan Coleman (Amesbury), Sandra Bartlett (Winsley), Marcia Hartley (Avon) and Maureen Woolley (Alderbury).

Quarter-finals at Amesbury (10.30am): Dol Hagger, Linda Clarke, Jean Crepaz & Carol Woodbridge (Wanborough) v Chris Mitchell, Sue Crouch, Julie Jones & Alison Fail (Purton); Ginny Nash, Sue Reeve, Barbara Twine & Pat Edmonds (Wootton Bassett) v Jean Buckland, Tessa Gallagher, Marian Lockey & Marcia Hartley (Avon); Gill Chandler (Patricia Legge), Nina Bevan, Janet Hoskins & Sandra Bartlett (Winsley) v Maggie Jordan, Jenny Wilson, Joanne Richman and Linda Kingston (Highworth); Maureen Woolley (Alderbury) v Joan Coleman (Amesbury).