THE annual clash between the county ladies and men staged last Wednesday at Avon (Melksham) resulted in an honourable 111-111 draw.

Ten local players took part in the match, four each from Supermarine and Wroughton, with a single representation from both Swindon Town Gardens and Royal Wootton Bassett.

Three locals played as skips, but only Bassett’s Alan Small recorded a victory as Town Gardens’ Sue Gravell and Wroughton’s Martin Salter both lost.

The men made the early running, leading 29-25 at five ends and 58-55 at 10 ends before the ladies came powering back.

They moved 83-74 ahead at 15 ends and took a 99-85 advantage after 18 but were caught in the final run-in.

The men launched a strong finish to collect 26 shots to the ladies 12 to produce an exciting finish and grab a last-gasp draw.

The battle for rinks honours went to the men, winning four out of the six. However, the11-shots success recorded by the foursome skipped by Winsley’s Sandra Bartlett was decisive in the final analysis.

In the battle of the two 2018 Wiltshire presidents, Dawn Edwards (Avon, Melksham) and Stewart Allison (Chippenham Park), the honours went to the latter as Allison skipped his rink to a 19-11 success.

  • WILTSHIRE’S ladies team have capped a fine outdoor season, one of the most successful for many years, with another success.

They have won the 2018 South West Counties Women’s League championship after the final table was confirmed earlier this week.

Wiltshire played six matches in the competition, winning and only losing narrowly to Devon.

Moonrakers beat Cornwall, Somerset, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Dorset.

Only Devon could have denied Wiltshire of the SWCL title, but they lost their last game to bottom side Somerset.

This latest success, added to their performances at the national championships, makes for healthy reading.

At Royal Leamington Spa last month in the top two ladies’ inter-county team competitions, they won the Amy Rose Bowl for players aged 31 and under, and came very close in another.

On the way to the Amy Rose final, they eliminated Warwickshire and then favourites Devon before capping a superb weekend by defeating Cornwall comfortably in the final.

While in the main Johns Trophy inter-county championship, Wiltshire won their west group and then defeated Devon in the quarter-finals to book a semi-finals spot at Leamington for the first time in 23 years.

Wiltshire then blitzed Yorkshire in the last four 129-79 but found Surrey a far tougher nut to crack in the final, losing 109-125, although they managed to share the rink honours 3-3.

Also, 2018 has seen the Purton ladies trio of Chris Mitchell, Julie Jones and Alison Fail, who won the national triples title last season, triumph for England in the British Isles Women’s Bowls Council triples in Belfast.