BOWLS: Alison is back to the four (From This Is Wiltshire)

BOWLS: Alison is back to the four

10:00am Friday 17th July 2009

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ALISON FAIL and Janet Hardie are through to the Wiltshire Women’s final in the National Four Wood Singles.

Purton’s Fail and Hardie (Box) emerged from the last eight of the competition at Stratton Churchway.

The duo battled their way through quarter and semi finals - and booked a place in the national championships at Royal Leamington Spa that start on Saturday, July 25.

Fail, who only started bowling again at Purton last year, is the fourth local to reach Leamington in one of the five main events this year.

It will be her fourth visit to Leamington having played there before on each occasion in the fours.

The county ladies finals are becoming something of a benefit event for Box as they have a full set of finalists.

Hardie, a former national singles champion on two occasions, will feature in three. She is already through in the fours and triples.

An initial singles entry of 84 were whittled down to the last eight for the Stratton Churchway shoot-out in the blue riband event.

In the top half of the draw, Fail came back from the edge of defeat in her quarter final against former winner Michelle Williams (Cooper Avon).

Fail was 19-11 adrift at 17 ends, but won the next five for a 21-19 victory with a run of 4, 1, 1, 2 and 2.

Then she faced Williams’ teammate Debbie Shadwell in the semi-finals, sealing a fine 21-12 success.

Hardie beat Ann Roberts-Phare (Malmesbury) 21-8 while home advantage helped Wendy Anderson (Stratton Churchway) to a 21-6 win over Di Acheson (Pewsey).

Hardie, using long jacks, dominated the semi-final over Anderson and was a comfortable 21-7 winner.

RESULTS Quarter-finals: Margaret Griffin (Wilton) lost to Debbie Shadwell (Cooper Avon) 13-21; Michelle Williams (Cooper Avon) lost to Alison Fail (Purton) 19-21; Ann Roberts-Phare (Malmesbury) lost to Janet Hardie (Box) 8-21; Di Acheson (Pewsey) lost to Wendy Anderson (Stratton Churchway) 6-21.

Semi-finals: Shadwell lost to Fail 12-21; Hardie beat Anderson 21-7.

n ANDERSON had the consolation of reaching Leamington in one of the senior events.

She partnered her county singles semi-final conqueror, Hardie, to a 23-14 victory over Janice Bull and Janice Coleman, on their own rink at Amesbury, in the area final of the Over 55s Pairs competition.

Anderson is a previous national winner of the pairs event as well as the national over 55s singles.

This latest success for Hardie means she has qualified for Leamington in five events - national singles, triples and fours as well as Over 55s pairs and singles, which she won in 2007.

• LOCAL players will contest four of the five Wiltshire Women’s county finals at Box early next week - but they must overcome opponents from the host club.

Box, chosen as the venue for the finals of this years county national championship events as it is Jean Collier’s home green, the 2009 county ladies president, supply a finalist in each event.

In the blue riband four wood singles, Purton’s Alison Fail, a former county fours winner, who has only been back bowling since last year after a long break, faces Janet Hardie, a twice national winner this decade in two wood singles and over 55s singles.

As Hardie will contest three county finals the singles event has been brought forward 24 hours and will be played on Sunday (2pm).

The other finals are on Monday, with Highworth’s Linda Kingston in the two wood singles final, facing holder Alex Jacobs.

It will be a busy day for Jacobs as she is in two other finals.

Westlecot supply the other two local finalists. Geraldine Reade and Mary Dyer face Karen Funnell and county president Jean Collier in the pairs.

Westlecot’s Carol Jayne, Ann Butler and Carole Coombs meet Sue Cooke, Janet Hardie and Alex Jacobs in the final.

This Box trio together with Karen Funnell face a quartet of Box team mates in the fours final – the first event on Monday, July 20.

FINALS PROGRAMME 10am Fours: Sue Dix, Sylvia Lucas, Jean Collier and Carol Grenfell (Box) v Karen Funnell, Sue Cooke, Janet Hardie and Alex Jacobs (Box).

1.30pm (approx) Two wood singles: Linda Kingston (Highworth) v Alex Jacobs (Box) 2pm Pairs: Karen Funnell & Jean Collier (Box) v Geraldine Reade & Mary Dyer (Westlecot).

2.45pm (approx) Triples: Carole Jayne, Ann Butler and Carole Coombs (Westlecot) v Sue Cooke, Janet Hardie and Alex Jacobs (Box).

Four wood singles: Alison Fail (Purton) v Janet Hardie (Box) To be played on Sunday, July 19 at 2pm

• LOCAL bowlers dominated the county semi-final stages of the national singles, pairs and triples competitions that were able to be played last weekend at Westlecot, writes DAVE EATON.

They supplied the winners in all five semi-final matches that took place with the successful players all booking places at Worthing next month in the last stages of the national championships.

However, in the two Under 25 Singles semi-finals, Westlecot’s two representatives, Kyle Anderson and Michael Richards, were both beaten, by Holt’s Wayne Snook and Alderbury’s Nick Revill respectively.

Richards though, a semi-finalist at Worthing last year in the men’s singles, bounced back in the singles semi-finals to beat his highly experienced team mate and former England international Graham Hatherall 21-7.

In the other singles semi-final Mel Biggs came from 4-8 down at 11 ends to beat Wootton Bassett’s Barry Sictorness by eight shots.

SEMI-FINAL RESULTS Singles: Mel Biggs (Westlecot) beat Barry Sictorness (Wootton Bassett) 21-13; Michael Richards (West) beat Graham Hatherall (West) 21-7.

Pairs: M Biggs & Mike Jackson (West) beat Ian Williams & Steve Snell (WB) 21-7.

Triples: Paul Phillips, Dan Rafferty and Keith Fletcher (Corsham) lost to John Williamson, I Williams and S Snell (WB) 15-16 (extra end); Bob Chalmers, Norman Gould and Chris Brown (Chippenham T) lost to B Sictorness, M Snell and Neil Smith (WB) 18-22.

Under 25 singles: Wayne Snook (Holt) beat Kyle Anderson (West) 21-8; M Richards (West) lost to Nick Revill (Alderbury) 19-21.

TO BE PLAYED Pairs: Rodney Green & Ray Sowden (West End) v Barry Sictorness & Michael Snell (Wootton Bassett).

Fours: Michael Richards, Jeff Nichols, Jamie Titcombe and Mel Biggs (Westlecot) v Kevin Embling, Graham Hatherall, Mike Jackson and Mark Dyer (Westlecot). Dave Hall, Ian Walters, Max Holland and Colin Baker (Purton) v Tony Keating, Mick Perrett, Paul Macdonald and Graham Shadwell (Spencer Moulton).

l These three matches will be played this weekend at Westlecot. Pairs and fours match Biggs v Dyer tonight (Friday); Fours match Baker v Shadwell on Sunday.

• BARRY SICTORNESS has continued his fine run this season in national competitions.

The Wootton Bassett bowler had already reached at least the quarter finals in all four men’s national championship events – singles, pairs, triples and fours.

And he increased that record to five in the Mixed Pairs with partner, Barbara Twine, pictured.

The Bassett pair edged Chris Cheesley (WB) and Alison Fail (Purton) 16-13 in the area semis.

Sictorness and Twine will meet either Steve Snook and Janet Hardie (both Box) or Graham Shadwell (Spencer Moulton) and his wife Debbie, who plays for Cooper Avon, in the area final.

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