St Andrews cruised into the county semi-finals of the Bowls England Tony Allcock Trophy with a comfortable home victory over Frome Selwood.

In this mixed two-rink competition, Carolina Venn, Sue Sinclair, Ken Uglow and Barrie Forse were 19-0 ahead after seven of 15 ends and with one five and three fours, they finished 29 shots clear, as their opponents won just two ends.

The other rink, skipped by club captain Brian Reeves, had a much harder game, mainly due to Frome’s outstanding skip S Chant. Although they held shot on numerous occasions before Chant bowled, Saints went 11-4 down, losing by two.

St Andrews will be away to Purnell, from Paulton, in the area semi-final.

Saints women shocked DRT League champions Portishead RBL, beating them by 19 shots on their own green.

Key to victory was the rink of Carolina Venn, Frid Allen and Meg Favis, who won by 20 shots, losing just three ends to singles. Jackie Pitman’s rink, 11-6 down with seven ends left, rallied to win by one, while a similar comeback from 16-6 down by Jane Smith just failed as she lost by two.

St Andrews have won the Somerset Fear Cup twice in the last five years, but hopes for 2021 were ended at the first hurdle on Friday at a strong Ilminster team.

While Meg Favis skipped Carolina Venn, Debbie Baker and Jame Smith to a notable draw with England player Kirsty Hembrow, the other two teams lost heavily.

One of them was skipped by Jackie Pitman who, the day before, had escaped injury when her car caught fire after coming off the road on the A370.

The men’s poor run in the Weston Over-60s League continued when they returned pointless from local rivals Clarence Blues. Saints were ahead after the opening few ends, but fell away badly to lose by 30 shots.

Results, Bowls England Tony Allcock Trophy area quarter-final, St Andrews 44 Frome Selwood 17: Judy Forse, Ann Campbell, K Curtis, B Reeves 10-12; Carolina Venn, Sue Sinclair, K Uglow, B Forse 34-5.

Weston & District Over-60s League, Clarence Blues 80 (20) St Andrews 50 (0): R Brereton, A Steer, B Reeves 12-18; R Potter, D Favis, G Wride 14-24; M Goddard, D Hurst, B Forse 14-15; K Uglow, R Flaxman, D Bailey 10-23.

Somerset Fear Cup, Ilminster 62 St Andrews 37: J Forse, M McMillan, S Sinclair, R McMillan 14-23; C Venn, D Baker, J Smith, M Favis 16-16; G Holborow, B Goddard, A Campbell, J Pitman 7-23.

Women’s DRT League, Portishead RBL 35 (2) St Andrews 54 (8): G Holborow, B Mangan, J Pitman 16-15; C Venn, F Allen, M Favis 23-3; J Forse, B Goddard, J Smith 15-17.