BRIMFIELD ladies battled through to a final and semi-final at the Bowls England national championships in Royal Leamington Spa.

Marion Wheatley and Karen Tandler won four games on the trot - including a 22-7 demolition of Devon in the quarter-finals - to book their place in the over-55 pairs.

They came up against Surrey duo Inger Newman and Norma Beales in the final and their magnificent run finally came to an end, 13-22.

Jennie Cole battled through to the last four in the two wood singles.

Cole, Herefordshire county champion, was on top form at Victoria Park as she eased past opponents from Nottinghamshire and Somerset 19-10 and 17-13.

A comfortable 15-9 win in the third round set up a quarter-final tie against Sussex’s Rachel Mackriell, and Cole won through after a tight game 14-11.

She came up against Norfolk’s Brenda Whitehead in the semis and went down fighting 16-10.

The other Herefordshire competitor, Sandra Pritchard of Leominster, was beaten 15-11 by Lu Green of Middlesex.

Brimfield had two teams in the rinks, after providing both the winners and runners-up at county level.

The Brimfield ‘A’ team of Barbara Griffiths, Lynne Allen, Marie Wall and Karen Tandler won through their preliminary round tie against Lancashire ‘B’ by 29-8 before falling 27-18 to Kent ‘A’ in the first round.

But the Brimfield ‘B’ team, featuring skip Cole with Helen Skinner, Josie Ward and Marion Wheatley marched through to the quarter-finals. They beat Lincolnshire ‘A’ 29-5, Hertfordshire ‘B’ 22-9 and Surrey ‘A’ 19-14 before coming up against eventual finalists Gloucestershire ‘B’, represented by the Kingswood and Hanham club, who won 21-11.

In the pairs, it was not such a happy story for Brimfield who again provided both Herefordshire representatives.

Jill Turberfield and Lynne Allen were beaten 22-13 in the preliminary round by Kent ‘B’ while Barbara Griffiths and Karen Tandler suffered an agonising single-shot defeat, going down 21-20 to Worcestershire ‘B’.

In the triples, the Eastnor trio of Val Pedlingham, Pat Hoffman and Sharon Brace, playing as Herefordshire ‘B’, suffered a first-round reverse when they went down 27-7 to Gloucestershire ‘A’.

But the county’s ‘A’ trio of Ciss Jones, Sandra Pritchard and Ady Poole from Leominster fought their way past Nottinghamshire ‘A’ 29-6 and Wiltshire ‘A’ 19-15 before bowing out 18-11 to eventual finalists Oxfordshire ‘A’ at the third-round stage.

In the junior singles, Herefordshire’s Kate Williams progressed to the second round before making her exit to Caroline Davis of Lincolnshire.

Williams and Abi Herbert were beaten by a Suffolk pair in the preliminary round of the junior pairs competition.

“I’d have taken a semi-final, final and quarter-final for Brimfield,” said Jennie, who made her exit in the first round of the over-55 singles to an opponent from Essex.

“No other club from anywhere in the country have as many representatives as Brimfield and Little Hereford at this year’s event and it makes me feel very proud.”

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