CORNWALL LADIES 90 DORSET LADIES 142

DORSET opened their league campaign hoping to win the South West Counties title for the third season in a row, with a sparkling performance against Cornwall at the neutral venue of Plymouth Life Centre.

Sally Williams, Sandie Smith, Wendy Brown and skip Sue Dadson set the standard by taking an early 11-1 lead against the Cornish quartet, skipped by Christine Johnstone.

Dadson and co powered their way to a 34-14 finish and provided an anchor score for Dorset.

Another key result was ach-ieved by Julie Hudson, Mary Lucas, Sheila Baker and Kath Desmond – they race to a 14-2 lead against Cornish stalwart Liz Bray and finished in style, to post a 23-13 result.

The Bridport duo of Frances Hewett and Pat Cornick, coupled with the Dorchester back end players of Isabelle Addison and Freda Yates, were slow to start and fell 7-1 behind to Shirley Boyce, before fighting back to take the lead at 10-9.

When later trailing by five shots after 15 ends of play, Yates again recovered in fine style to finish 23-18 to the good.

Margaret Hooper, Sue Maggs, Margaret Crawford and skip Linda Johnston tackled the Cornwall rink, skipped by Barbara Jones and held sway at all stages of the encounter to record a convincing 24-15 scoreline.

The dependable Dorset skip Joan Halliwell was well supported by Val Baxter, Jenny Trotman, and Brenda Streater, and they proved to be too powerful for their opponent rink, skipped by Connie Ellery and cruised home 21-13.

It was left to Cornwall’s Connie Ellery to salvage a vestige of pride when her quartet secured a 17-all draw against Irene Martindill, June Searle, Lyn Howard and Jill Bryant.

Dorset now turn their attentions to a first-round game against Devon in defence of their National Atherley Inter-County title.