DORSET’S female contingent gained valuable experience but saw their hopes of national glory dashed by fierce compeition at the Leamington finals.

A total of 19 Dorset bowlers qualified for seven of the available women’s events at the Bowls England Finals at Leamington Spa.

Blandford’s Sally Burton, Joy Steele, Liz Males, and Freda Yates were first on the green representing Dorset B in the fours but were ousted 12-22 in the first round by the Leicestershire side skipped by Diane Hurst.

The Dorset A team of Pamela Daters, Frances Hewett, Margaret Clapp, and Sue Hosking fared better against the Northumberland team skipped by Lorna Telfer but were just shaded by 16 shots to 17 and also failed to reach the second round.

Freddie Potter, Shirley Bowley and Sheila Baker of Dorchester chalked up the first Dorset victory at this year’s championships by getting the better of Sussex’s Brenda Bailey, Diana Whittingham and Kate Sayers in the triples.

The triples team came back well from a five down situation, and thanks to consecutive winning ends of a three, a five, and another three, went 12-6 up and stayed ahead for the remainder of the game to eventually win 20-14.

Unfortunately, the Dorset B triple were then drawn against a very strong Kent side featuring skipper Amy Banes and England internationals Wendy King and Sandy Hazel.

Dorset were marginally ahead at 7-6, before the experience of the Kent trio allowed them to ease clear before eventually winning 17-10.

The Dorset A team of Sylvia Adams, Pam Skinner and Sheena Willis (Wellworthy) proved to be the stars of the fortnight for Dorset as they took to the green on four occasions.

Their campaign got under way when they narrowly defeated Hertfordshire 15-13 in the first round and then plundered Nottinghamshire in the second round by the large margin of 28 shots to 9. An equally impressive third round game (24-8) took them into the quarter-final where their winning streak came to an end as a result of an 18-12 defeat at the hands of Oxfordshire.

In the pairs, Julie Saunders and Penny Cresswell were desperately unlucky to lose out on the final end against Veronica Boylan and Angela Henry of Essex. The Dorset A pair departed from the tournament in the first round by the narrow margin of 21-23.

Sue Hosking and Margaret Clapp gave bittersweet performances representing Dorset B. The Bridport pair took Bedfordshire apart with a massive 27 shots to 8 display but then fell apart themselves in the second round when Huntingdonshire’s Emma Thurston and Pat Reynolds handed out a 31-8 spanking.

Former blue ribbon winner Julie Saunders of Poole Park had high hopes of making progress in this year’s singles event but bowed out to Hampshire’s Wendy Line in the second round. Line had lost to Saunders in a previous year’s qualifier but this time reversed the result by carving out a 21-14 victory.

Margaret Crawford carried the other singles hopes and made a splendid start by overcoming Pat Bodily of Northamptonshire 21-18. She then fought back from 3-12 down against Jenni Groves of Leicestershire to secure a nail biting victory by 21 shots to 20. Unfortunately Crawford was eventually heavily outclassed against Jane Croxall of Nottinghamshire. Croxall stormed to a 20-0 lead in the third round but Crawford was able to avoid a whitewash with a solitary shot before the inevitable winner was secured. Croxall sailed on ultimately to win the championship with a 21-17 victory against Shirley Upton of Suffolk in the final.

Greenhill provided the two Dorset qualifiers for the two-wood singles but neither was able to register a win.

Margaret Ridd (Dorset A) came up against the experienced Cornwall player Joan Rees who managed the bad conditions well and was never troubled in her 20-4 win.

Margaret Mitchell gave a good account of herself in an encounter with Catherine Popple of Huntingdonshire, who has skipped her county to national titles on several occasions. Popple moved into the next round thanks to a 17-10 win.

Margaret Mitchell was also the sole Dorset representative in the over-55 singles and opened her account with a win by 21 shots to 14 over Maureen Smith of Derbyshire. The second round paired Mitchell with England international Sue Harriott of Devon who chalked up a 21-6 victory.

Sue Hosking and Margaret Clapp closed down the county’s involvement when seeing off Barbara Sleep and Pauline Proud of the Isle of Wight 25-17 in the over-55 pairs, before crashing out to Warwickshire pair Diane Green and Janet Scott in dramatic style.

Hosking and Clapp opened in fine style as they took a 7-0 lead only to be pulled back to 9-9. The game then became a one way procession for Warwickshire who won all but one of the remaining ends played forcing Dorset to throw in the towel at 25-10 down with three ends to play.

The Leamington fortnight has given Dorset players a wealth of experience but hopes of national glory now switch to the men as they play out their finals at Worthing.