HAMPSHIRE, who have failed to cut much ice in the Atherley Trophy over the past eight years, suffered another first-round exit in the women's inter-county championship.

Their 124-102 defeat by a Surrey side liberally sprinkled with internationals completed a miserable Hampshire double with both the men (Liberty Trophy) and the ladies out of the hunt for national honours at an early stage this winter.

Playing on the Whiteknights carpet at Reading Hampshire fell 30-19 behind at five ends and never recovered. The gap had widened to 63-47 by the tenth end and the cause was lost after 18 when they were 115-83 adrift before a late rally made the final scoreline more respectable.

The all-Longmeadow rink skipped by Joy Annetts triumphed 27-14 and there was support from the Ann Broadhurst quartet, who won 19-17, while of the beaten rinks Brenda Plumpton gained something of a moral victory when losing just 19-17 to current England player Doreen Hankin. Rink scores:

Anne Pearce, Ella Dibble, Pat Sutton, Wendy Line (all Atherley) lost 25-15;

Felicity Lillywhite, Maggie Playle, Rosemary Corney, Joy Annetts (all Longmeadow) won 27-14;

Chris Hall (Banister Park), Liz Compton (Victory), Margaret Darkin, Midge Pitter (both Banister Park) lost 25-14;

Pam Lambshead (Palmerston), Rosemary Bailey (Victory), Chris Doig (Riverside), Brenda Plumpton (Chawton Park) lost 19-17;

Jean Arnaud, Ann Littlewood (both Atherley), Chris Sullivan (Banister Park), Ann Broadhurst (Palmerston) won 19-17;

Theresa Darnell-Langton (Loddon Vale), Sandy Moyse, Val Cooper (both Palmerston), Wendy Merchant (Loddon Vale) lost 24-10.