WILTSHIRE players were in fine form last weekend, recording a treble in the singles, pairs and fours in Area 30 finals in the national championships, writes DAVE EATON.

Christie Miller’s Andy Moore, losing skip at Northampton in the Men’s Over 50s Triples final last year, booked his place in the latter stages in this season’s national championships at Melton & District in April in the blue riband singles event.

Moore cruised to a comfortable 21-8 victory in the Area 30 singles final over Mark Woods (Clevedon).

He will now meet Area 7 champion Phil Epton (Gleding, Nottingham) in the last 32 at Melton Mowbray on April 11 (10am).

Clarrie Dunbar duo Craig Doughty and Graham Shadwell also qualified for the latter stages in the national championships at Melton & District Indoor Bowls Club.

They booked their place in the pairs at Melton Mowbray with a hard-fought 22-16 victory in the Area 30 final of the national pairs over the North Wilts father and son pairing of Steve and Wayne Snook.

Doughty and Shadwell trailed the Snooks 12-6 in the early stages but fought back well in the second-half to take victory.

Shadwell clinching the tie with a great wood on the 20th end when one down turning out the Snook’s bowl to go 19-16 up.

They move forward to Melton Mowbray and will face the Area 12 pairs winners in the last 32 on April 4 (2pm).

Clarrie’s foursome of John Freeman, Keith Bailey, Andrew Colebrooke and Russell Francis recorded a 28-8 home win over Jason Ovens’ quartet from Bristol in the Area 30 national fours championship final and are now in the inter-area final against Minehead – one step away from the latter stages at Melton & District in April.

They will have to face Minehead skipped by Mervyn May probably at Street or Taunton Deane by March 9.

Meanwhile, Andy Colebrooke will be hoping for better fortunes in the next three days than he experienced last month at Warner Leisure Hayling Island.

The 2013 Clarrie Dunbar men’s singles champion and Area 29/30 inter-area champion went out in the first round (last 16) in the final stages of the Champion of Champions singles losing to world number nine Mark Royal (Mid-Suffolk).

Colebrooke, with Clarrie colleague Kim Smith, will be competing this weekend in the final stages (last 16) of the national mixed pairs competition at Lincoln & District IBC.

The duo qualified for Lincoln with a 21-15 victory over Area 29 champions Rebecca MacMillen and Andrew Owens (Victoria, Weston-S-M) in the inter-area final.

Colebrooke and Smith begin their quest for glory today (6pm) with a last 16 match against Area 23/24 champions Sean Coyle and Wendy King (Swale, Sittingbourne, Kent).

The quarter-finals are scheduled for lunchtime tomorrow with the semi-finals and final on Sunday.

Clarrie Dunbar moved a step closer to retaining their Somerset County League Division 1 title with an 89-77 shots win over second placed and newly promoted North Petherton.

They collected 15 out of the 16 points on offer to go top but the match was much much closer than the scoreline suggests.

At ten ends across the board Clarrie trailed North Petherton 40-39 and at 15 were 59-53 adrift and still down 77-74 at 20 ends.

However, Clarrie Dunbar then turned the match on its head on the 21st and last end scoring 15 shots across all rinks to pull off a last gasp 12 shots overall victory and take the honours on three rinks and draw on the other.

And to complete a county weekend double Clarrie thumped Somerset Under 25 men in the annual U25 Challenge Trophy.

RESULTS v North Petherton

Home - Rink 1: Keith Haines, Peter Hooley, Mike Sawyers & Colin Easton drew with P Howard 20-20. Rink 2: Paul Hewitt, Russell Milne, Graham Jones & Fred Pope beat B Heard 22-18.

Away - Rink 1: Dick Discombe, Alan Brown, Brian Hawkins & Trevor Batchelor beat R Draper 23-20. Rink 2: John Jones, John Smith, Francis Parker and Alan Totterdell beat K Squire 24-19.

Score: Clarrie Dunbar 89 (15pts) North Petherton 77 (1pt).

v Somerset

U25 men Home: Graham Jones beat Dale Taylor 20-12; Duncan McGovern beat G Aldridge 35-7. Away: Fred Pope beat W Stevens 20-18; Keith Bailey beat L Hembrow 35-10.

Score: Clarrie Dunbar beat Somerset U25 men 110-47.

This weekend sees the last round of group matches in the central region of the Wessex League taking place.

Clarrie Dunbar have completed their fixtures and won the central title but Christie Miller will be looking for a big win to grab a wild card into the play-offs while North Wilts will be seeking a win to avoid the wooden spoon.

Fixtures

Sunday Feb 23: Christie Miller v Purnell; Nailsea v North Wilts; Thornbury v Bristol.

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