SHORT mat bowlers from across the county met at Christie Miller IBC to play in the re-arranged County Triples Championship.

After group play, the top 16 triples contested a place in the main championship or the Plate.

Triples from Melksham, Kington Langley, Westbury Blue Circle, Trowbridge, Seend, Bromham and Crudwell moved onto the Championship.

The semi finals saw Westbury Blue Circle, skipped by Graham Cox, overcome Terry Shore’s Trowbridge team by 10-3 and the previous year’s champions from Crudwell (skipped by Geoff Lane) beat a Melksham trio skipped by John Dopson 5-3.

In the final, the Crudwell trio claimed a 10-6 win to retain the crown.

This competition was noteworthy for the emergence of the two triples from Melksham skipped by Dave Barratt and John Dopson.

Dopson’s three reached the later stages of a county championship for the first time and Barratt’s trio lost narrowly in the final of the county plate competition to a Trowbridge triple, skipped by Sandra Dickinson.

The mixed fours also took place at Christie Miller, the four of Tony Sutton, Wendy Elliott, Aidan Wicks (all Blue Circle) and Bratton’s Ann Hart defeating Don Mannion, Beryl Green field, Maureen Collett and Tony Whiteford.

The plate sw Crudwell’s quartet (Geoff Lane, Jenny Lane, Pam Baldry and Les Baldry) defeat Trowbridge (Maureen Jelly, Jean Shore, Andy Jelly and Terry Shore) 7-1.

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