The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Five Spalding Indoor Bowls Club ladies were involved with the England squad for the British Isles International Series at Belfast.
Annie Dunham and Rebecca Simpson retained their places, while Ruby Hill and Chelsea Tomlin were making their debuts and Louise Catchpole was the travelling reserve.
In the first match, England played against the hosts Ireland and found their form early on, running out comfortable winners by 160 shots to 82.
Hill’s rink led the way with a 43-7 victory, as she was joined by Amy Stanton, Stefanie Branfield and Michelle Barlow.
Dunham was skipping for the first time and her rink of Lauren Mosely, Carole Baker and Katherine Hawes won 29-12.
Simpson, selected with Cassidy Lenton, Bex Field and Sarah Seymour, saw her rink beaten 13-18, while Tomlin lost 11-19. Her rink consisted of Katherine Rednall, Lorraine Kuhler and Penny Strong.
Next up was Wales and again, England were in control throughout to take a 136-91 victory to set up a winner takes all clash with Scotland, who had won both their matches.
Dunham and Hill had good wins (27-14 and 36-12), while Simpson won 22-14 and Tomlin’s set lost 16-23.
The final match proved to be a disappointing one for England, as a rampant Scotland side started well and never looked back, winning on five of the six rinks.
Annie made it three wins from three as she posted a 26-18 scoreline.
However, Hill’s set couldn’t maintain their 100 per cent record and lost 13-23.
There were also defeats for Simpson (11-24) and Tomlin (14-24) as their respective rinks were soundly beaten.
A Spalding IBC statement read: “Despite the result, all five players should be extremely proud to be selected for this great event and for the club to have so many Internationals, is fantastic.
“Well done ladies and hard luck but, with youth on your side, there will hopefully be many more series’ for them all.”
