Dorchester achieve comeback to reach Wessex Quarters

Having been knocked out of the prestigious Denny Cup at the Quarter Final stage, Dorchester turned their attention to the Wessex League in an attempt to land a trophy this season.

Good results over recent months have seen the club top the Wessex League Jurassic Region with an unbeaten record, thus qualifying for the knock out stages.

The first round play off against Chawton Park turned out to be a game which was on a knife edge in the early stages with the two home rinks out of the trap at a canter and the two travelling rinks at Alton in Hampshire being put to the sword.

At the Dorchester Sandringham Centre home players Darren Nutman, Phil Hallett, Martin Pavey and Jamie Lockwood reached the five end stage holding a commanding 11-1 lead which was mirrored by the companion rink of Richard Toone ,Dave Tremlin, Stevie Lambert Culling, and skip George Spracklen who had put nine shots on the board without reply.

With 19 shot advantage at home and only 5 adrift away things seemed comfortable, but five ends later the position was getting precarious for Dorchester as the away day players hit stormy water.

Keith Wyman, Micky Durant, Colin Gifford and Ryan Nash were well behind at 5-18 and team mates Jamie Watkiss, Gareth Thomas, Steve Turner and Ged Costello were no better placed at 4-14 behind.

The aggregate score put Chawton Park ahead and Dorchester trailed 40 shots to 41 and prospects looking less certain.

At Dorchester the hosts continued to put on the pressure and all depended on a recovery from the away rinks, who promptly came up with the goods in turning in an impressive recovery.

Nash and co reeled off six consecutive winning ends to rack up 15 shots to actually take the lead at 20 -18 and held tight to sneak a 23-22 victory. Not to be outdone captain Ged Costello’s rink almost cleared off their ten shot deficit in forcing an 18-20 result, and achieving a 1 shot down aggregate away total.

At home Spracklen finally finished 26-7 to the good and Lockwood also won by 19 shots in a dominant 30 – 11 home display of bowling which left the Chawton Park players reeling.

The power play of the second half of the match resulted in the opponents throwing in the towel with ends unplayed, leaving Dorchester to move forward to a quarter final match against the Warwickshire club of Welford on Avon.

The game will be played at the neutral venue of the Cotswold Club at Stroud, Gloucestershire, with the team back on track for further progress in a tournament which Dorchester last won in 1993 and 1994.

Frank Gwatkin