A combined Atherley/Banister Park team tumbled out of the National Under-25 Double Rink Championship 53-24 to Dorchester.

After defeating Victory in the previous round, the Hampshire youngsters had high hopes of making further progress but Dorchester took both rinks convincingly.

Playing on the Atherley carpet, Chris Prior, Michael Comley, Kelvin Blake and skip Wayne Stewart of Banister Park trailed 15-0 at seven ends before finding their length and line.

This enabled them to hold their own over the second half of the game in a 28-10 defeat by Craig Johnson, a Dorset Liberty Trophy bowler.

And, in Dorset, the Atherley foursome of Greg Sims, Andrew Matthews, Mark Radford and skip Martin Wise were only 14-9 down at 13 ends - but a dropped six saw them beaten 25-14 by Dorchester's under-25 international Shaun Nutman.

Teenagers Wise and Radford, however, impressed enough to be included for the first time in Atherley's Hampshire League team to face East Dorset on Saturday.

Main focus this weekend is on the fourth round of the Famous Grouse Four Nations Classic on Sunday morning.

Group H sees Banister Park tackle unbeaten Victory A but the Eastleigh club's hopes of toppling the leaders have been hit by the absence of skips Steve Rice (business commitments) and Ken Marsh (family reasons) as well as John Joslin.

Famous Grouse fixtures - Group H: Banister Park v Victory A, Isle of Wight v East Dorset B, Atherley A v Bournemouth. Group I: East Dorset A v Exonia, Honiton v Dolphin A, Moonfleet v Victory B.

Hampshire League matches (Saturday morning): Atherley v East Dorset, Banister Park v Rushmoor, Chawton Park v Loddon Vale, Havant v New Milton, Longmeadow v Riverside, Palmerston v Victory.

* In the Johnny Johnson Trophy at Atherley, Lockswood A swamped Aerostructures 80-37 with rink wins by Adrian Dadd (38-5 against G Veal), Neil O'Donovan (21-14 against D Wilton) and Terry Wright (21-18 against E Dymond).