Oakley’s Alice Lovett was the only player from a club in Basingstoke representing Hampshire in last week's Johns Trophy match against Kent and found herself skipping against the redoubtable Sian Honnor, the current Commonwealth Games Triples Champion.

Alice’s rink lost narrowly but their close result helped Hampshire to a 102 points to 96 points victory across the 6 rinks giving Hampshire 16 league points and Kent 6.

The next Johns match is against Buckinghamshire but before then Alice will be playing in the Walker Cup (Ladies 2 rinks of four) against Berkshire when it is believed she will be the youngest skip ever to represent Hampshire in this event.

In National team competitions there were mixed results for local teams.  Basingstoke Town’s over-60s team, in the Tony Allcock trophy, had an impressive 45-23 win against Andover, whilst Whitchurch beat Andover 3-2 in the Men’s Top Club.  The men’s Double Rink saw Howard Park beat Whitchurch 33-23 and Park will now meet Oakley who just nudged out Kingsclere. In individual events Hook’s Andrew Lowe continued his run in the Champion of Champions beating Jack Markham of Farnborough 21-15. There was also an excellent win for Town’s Anita Christian, who’s mixed four overwhelmed Alton.

In the Basingstoke and District leagues Basingstoke Town were the team of the week. In the Men’s Fours League both their teams picked up maximum points at Oakley to move third in Division 1 and second, with a game in hand, in Division 2. Kingsclere with a creditable draw at the home of the Champions Alton Social remain second in Division 1. Town are also dominating the Mixed Triples Leagues where both their teams are unbeaten.

After six matches, in the Whitchurch League, of the 36 teams, only Division 1 leaders Basingstoke Spades remain unbeaten. Division 4 leaders Marnell Jades surrendered their record as they slumped to a 74-26 defeat to the 2023 basement club Basingstoke Hearts.