The omens were good for the trio of Matt Bass, Chris Rodgers and skip Neil Hope after they breezed through the opening three rounds with assured displays at Worthing.

They were bidding to go one better than last year when they finished runners-up on the very last end, but it was not to be as they were dismissed by Wiltshire, ironically Hope's former county with whom he won the national title before his move up to the Midlands.

In Friday afternoon's last eight tie, the Leicestershire A team fell behind early on to David Snell's team and could never catch up, eventually falling 20 shots to 14.

The faced a tough draw all the way through and on Thursday secured a fine first round win against a very strong Cumbria team which included Paul Barlow, John Bell and Stephen Farish 20-9.

Later on Thursday they were even more convincing winners in round two, crushing James Webber's Devon triple by 22 shots to three.

Holwell were soon into their stride on Friday morning, beating a Berkshire B team featuring Bernard Greenough, Robert Newman and Michael Newman 19-7.