Highworth and Royal Wootton Bassett reach semi-finals of Wiltshire men's Four-Rink League

The duo join Westlecot and Chippenham Town in the semi-finals, with that pair having qualified for the last four the previous weekend with wins over Spencer Moulton and Purton respectively.

Bassett, who finished as runners-up in the North section to Westlecot, thrashed Salisbury 87-49.

However, there was a very big shock in the other match with Highworth, who only finished fourth in the North section, defeating South section winners Holt 79-69 to turn the formbook inside out.

Highworth had to battle hard for their shock success despite a fine start.

They led 19-11 overall after five ends and 36-27 after 10. But Holt then upped the pace, hitting back extremely hard to wipe out the deficit and leap 55-48 ahead after 15 ends.

However, Highworth were not to be denied and hit back themselves with a match-winning run on the home stretch, scoring another 31 shots and only conceding 14.

Holt’s advantage was cut to only 64-63 at 18 ends before Highworth piled on the pressure with a seven on end 20 from Rob Etherington’s rink.

After edging ahead, Highworth eventually saw the job through to win 79-69.

Etheridge’s rink were 23-22 winners, while there were also wins for the rinks skipped by Stuart Murray (20-14) and Richard Young (19-13).

The reward for Highworth is a semi-final meeting with Bassett this Sunday at Westlecot.

Bassett were always ahead against Salisbury in their own quarter-final, winning on all four rinks.

They led 20-7 at five ends, 39-19 at 10, 58-38 at 15 and finished strongly to lead 70-45 at 18 before finally winning 87-49.

Top rink honours went to the foursome of James Nobbs, Chris Cheesley, Graham Hatherall and Neil Collett, who won 29-15, while there were also wins for the rinks skipped by Steve Snell, Mel Biggs and Dave Godwin.

The other semi-final, Chippenham Town versus Westlecot, will be played at Devizes on September 7 prior to the final the following day.