ROYAL Wootton Bassett fell at the last hurdle in their quest to win another Bowls England national title this season.
They reached the last two in the men’s top club championship at Royal Leamington Spa but missed out on adding to the family pairs title won by Gary Morphet and his son Craig when going down 4-1 in the top club final to Torquay’s Kings BC.
Bassett lost in four of the five disciplines – two and four wood singles, pairs and triples – with their lone success coming in the fours with the quartet of Kyle Anderson, Chris Cheesley, Dave Godwin and skip Steve Snell recording a 16-14 victory.
Last Saturday, in the quarter-finals, Bassett edged past Cheltenham with a 3-2 victory.
Kevin Emblin won the two wood singles while James Nobbs, Tom Walkley and Gary Morphet won the triple.
However, Neil Smith lost the four wood singles, while Dave Snell and Mel Biggs lost the pairs to leave the match poised at 2-2 with only the fours to finish.
Steve Snell’s quartet were trailing 14-7 at 12 ends before tying things up at 16-16 after 18 ends only to drop two singles to trail 18-16 going into the last end.
However, they grabbed a two to tie the game 18-18 and send the match into a deciding end, which they won to help Bassett book their semi-final spot against Yorkshire side Nafferton, who they cruised past 4-1 on the Sunday morning.
The final proved to be a match too far as Kings reigned supreme to win 4-1.
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