Shepton Mallet’s Ladies hosted Paulton Ladies in a triples match in the Wild League. Once again, the inclement weather dampened proceedings, but they would not be deterred and played on to achieve a result.

As has happened too often this dismal early summer, the match had to be cut short after eleven ends. At that stage, with the Mallets having lost on two of the three rinks, one could be forgiven for thinking that they were well-beaten. Not so. Whilst the two losing rinks had scores of 2-11 and 6-18 against, respectively, Shepton’s trio on the winning rink won by the huge margin of 29-2, meaning that the overall score in shots was 37-31 to the Mallets, which saw them home with a points victory of 8-4.

The Mid-Somerset League is played in the evenings. Having been beaten, away, earlier in that competition by Street, it was now Shepton’s turn and they hosted their recent conquerors in the return match, seeking to overturn that earlier result. In the event, a strong Street team were even more impressive, dashing the Mallets’ hopes of revenge, and winning on all four rinks by a shots total of 53-82 and a points tally of 16-0.

A busy week for Shepton’s bowlers was completed on Saturday, when the Ladies, and the Men, played in the Quarter-Final of the Wessex Mixed Knock-Out Cup, against Merriott, who hail from Crewkerne.

The format is that two games are played at home, while another two are played away, both at the same time. The Mallets have been very successful in this competition in the recent past, winning the cup on two occasions, and were hoping to get back to their winning ways and return the silverware to their trophy cabinet.

Sadly, their hopes were dashed when they were beaten by 37-46 shots at home, and 35-49 shots away, making an overall shots loss of 72-95. So it will be Merriott who progress to the Semi-Finals.

Terry Blackmore