DORSET came away with a 23-17 loss as they travelled to Cornwall with the hope to get as many points as possible to finish in the top two of their groups to qualify for the ICC main.

Dorset A came out of the traps with a three-mat-to-one lead, with Barry Whitburn and Andrew Hall winning their singles games 16-15 and 14-13, while the pair of Simon Andrews and Ken Lever winning 18-8.

In session two, Dorset A won both triples matches by a 14-8 scoreline, with Emilia Thompson, Bill Powls and Brian Smith, Marie Neale, Keith Honeybun and Tony Wanklin making sure Dorset A led 10-6 at half-time.

In session three, Andrew Hall triumphed 14-10, however, it was not enough to secure the bonus points in the singles as Barry Whitburn lost 14-8, while Andrews and Lever won 15-11.

However, Cornwall took the bonus points in the pairs, which left Dorset A 15-13 down.

Session four saw Wanklin’s triple win 18-9 and take the bonus points in the triples but the whole match went down to the fours.

With John Hancock’s four being beaten it was up to the quartet of Elsie Gale, Sam Buckley, Graham Rabbets and Trevor Ford.

The quartet needed to win to claim Dorset A’s match and, with the score 10-13 to Cornwall going into the last end, Ford’s four managed to get a five to win the game 15-13 and a 21-19 overall victory.

Dorset’s premier team started off slowly losing both of their singles games.

However, the pair of Ben Riley and Steven Stanton won 16-7 and the first session saw Cornwall Premier lead 6-2.

In session two, Dorset upped their game, with both triples winning, Robert Martin, James Kley and David Redfern securing a 20-10 success, while David Price, Eugene and June Balbinski won 11-9.

Brain Baker’s four got a draw in their match to see the half-time score 9-7 to Cornwall Premier.

In session three, both singles players lost but in the pairs both of Dorset’s doubles won.

Emily Thomas and Lynn Dean triumphed 15-4, while Ben Riley and Steven Stanton remained unbeaten by winning their second game 15-4 and in so doing claimed the bonus points.

This saw Dorset Premier lead 15-13 going into session four but unfortunately both of Dorset fours lost as did the triple of Balbinski. There was some good news for Dorset with Robert Martin’s triple going unbeaten for the day by winning their second game 18-8 to claim the triple bonus points.

However, this was not enough for Dorset to win the match as they lost 23-17.

Dorset’s last match in the group stage will be against Somerset at home.