Warwickshire are unable to secure Victoria Park berth

Warwickshire travelled down to Bath BC to face old foes Devon in the semi-final, the team that had knocked them out of the competition for the past two seasons.

Matt Wordingham’s rink, which featured his Avenue Leamington clubmates Adam and Mark Smith and Bournville’s Luke Moore, got off to a solid start, reaching the midway point with a 13-4 advantage.

Meanwhile, despite dropping a six on the first end, Tom Pritty (Bournville) along with Dane Jones (Avenue Coventry), Luke Beech (Stoke) and Dan Ward (Whitnash) kept pace with their Devon opponents, trailing by five shots after 11 ends.

Wordingham and co continued to pile the pressure on Devon, steadily building up a 12-shot lead with five ends remaining.

Knowing the other rink was doing well meant Pritty’s rink just had to make sure they kept the score tight rather taking on risky shots and they reached 16 ends with the scores tied at 14 all.

A couple of killed ends meant Pritty’s rink would be the first to finish and, while they briefly took the lead, it was Devon who finished better to secure a 19-17 win.

Wordingham’s rink traded a double and single with their opponents who, trailing 23-11 and with overall victory beyond them, shook hands before the final end.

Worcestershire then stood between Warwickshire and an appearance at Victoria Park in the National Finals but it was to prove a one-sided contest despite a valiant effort from Pritty’s rink.

The quartet were 9-1 up after five ends but were pegged back by the 13th and eventually shook hands with two ends remaining at 20-18 down.

The reason for their early concession was due to a freak result on the other rink where fine bowling from Worcestershire and poor luck on the part of Wordingham and co saw them suffer a 29-1 defeat.

The highlight for the Warwickshire quartet came on the 16th end when they finally got on the board, but with the overall score standing at 49-19, play was called to a halt with four ends still to play.

However, with the oldest team member still having two years left at this category, the future looks bright for Warwickshire’s youngsters.

A late Gloucestershire fightback ended any hope of success in the Middleton Cup as Warwickshire Bears sank to a 113-102 defeat, gaining four out of the 22 points available.

Rink scores: Martyn Murley (Rugby), Rob Robinson (Erdington Court), Tom Millership & Alan Apsey (both Rugby) won 20-19; Adam Smith (Avenue Leamington), Dan Ward (Whitnash), Matt Wordingham & Andy Smith (both Avenue Leamington) won 21-16; Liam Pearcey, Brian Boardman, Matt Wells & Calvin Wells (all Rugby) lost 19-12; Andy Manning (Nuneaton), Phil Green (Norgren), Trevor Manning (Nuneaton) & Steve Taylor (Avenue Coventry) lost 24-21; Graham Box (Little Compton), Neil Brereton (Entaco), Neil Hancock & Dan Box (both Little Compton) lost 18-13; Martin Hammond (Three Spires), Chris Barton (Kings Heath), Steve Merrett & Colin Jacox (both Avenue Coventry) lost 17-15.