Middleton Cup

Gloucestershire 120 Wiltshire 105

GLOUCESTERSHIRE finished their Middleton Cup Group matches on a high as they defeated top of table Wiltshire by 15 shots at Cheltenham Bowls Club.

The win dented Wiltshire’s hopes of reaching the quarter finals as Gloucestershire began the match in final style by taking a 20 shot lead after five ends.

Twice during the match Wiltshire came back at them reducing the deficit to six and five shots and twice Gloucestershire responded to pull away and end up with the win.

Each county ended up with three winning rinks with the rink of Jack Williams, James Speller, (both Cheltenham), Matt Curtis (Gloucester City), Rob Griffiths (Cheltenham) putting in a powerhouse display against Graham Shadwell to take a 13-1 lead after just five ends. In command throughout leading 18-9 at halfway they then moved 16 shots clear after 15 ends 26-10 and went onto win it 30-13.

Joe Hardwick, John Smallwood, Paul Bryant (all Olveston), Stuart Hodges (Cheltenham) up against Justin Davis found themselves behind at halfway 8-5 before taking a single shot lead 10-9 after 15 ends. In the final run in they managed to pull away for a 20-15 win.

Tim Bloomer (Fairford), Alex White (Cheltenham), Peter Stinchcombe (Tetbury), Steve Knight (Cheltenham) up against Neil Smith opened up by leading 6-2 which was the cut back to a single shot after 10 ends 8-7. Still leading by a shot five ends later they trailed behind 16-14 on 18 ends before hitting a purple patch after the last three ends scoring five shots without reply to win 19-16.

Nick Charlwood (Cheltenham), Josh Phillips (Ardagh), Lee Williamson, Matt Cuthbert (both Cheltenham) against Russell Francis had a close battle throughout that saw the rink trail by just one shot right up until the 15th end when from 13-12 down they went behind 18-13. A late rally ended with a 22-20 defeat.

Shaun Morris, Vince Wilks (both Gloucester City), Mike Prosser (Gloucester Spa), Nick Holliday (Cheltenham) against Ben Gadd held the edge after 10 ends when leading 9-7. They were all square at 13-13 on 15 ends and then slipped away as they dropped six shots in three ends to go 19-13 down. In the end, they lost 21-17.

Martin Shepherd (Northwick), Adam Smith (Cheltenham), Nigel Cansdale (Fairford), Nathan Kitchen (Cheltenham) up against Mel Biggs having taken an early lead were always behind by three or four shots throughout and end up with a four shot defeat 18-14.