England’s Juniors finished second in the British Bowls Under 25 International Series at Belmont BC, Belfast, last weekend (Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 September) after losing out to Scotland in a final session decider.
The event saw England compete against hosts Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in a combined six-rink international series. Alongside the combined competition, there were also separate competitions for Men and Women.
Our Junior Women had a strong start to proceedings, having topped their table after Day One. An emphatic showing against Wales gave our Women’s side a tirade of confidence, winning all three of their matches (18-14, 32-8, 22-18) and securing an overall score of 72-40. The second session saw a match for the history books, as England Women fought hard to secure a nail-biting one-shot win against Ireland Women (Ireland 65-66 England), having trailed behind for the first half of the session, with individual match scores of 27-19, 20-27 and 18-20.
Our Junior Men’s team had a challenging start to their British Bowls campaign, securing one win out of three with scores of 27-14, 24-15 and 15-18 to Wales, finishing with an overall score of 66-47. Following the result, the team regrouped for their session against a passionate Ireland, holding them off to finish on an overall score of 61 to Ireland and 65 to England (21-27, 24-17, 16-21).
At the conclusion of Day One, England Men secured 2 points and were in 3rd place on the table due to the shot difference. England Women took the top spot with 4 points, edging ahead of Scotland with a one-shot difference. The combined saw England sitting in 2nd place.
Day Two, and just Scotland stood in the way of an overall victory. England Men had a good start against a strong Scotland lineup, keeping their noses in front in the first third of the session. But Scotland were defiant, turning the tables and jumping ahead to finish with a score of 75-57 (30-18, 20-25 and 25-14).
With both teams securing 4 points and just the one-shot difference between them, England Women were in for a challenging match against Scotland Women. Scotland came out of the blocks early, building a big lead and leaving England little room to fight back. The overall score for the Women’s match finished on 75-42 to Scotland (29-12, 22-12, 24-18).
Following the conclusion of the last session, Women’s Junior Manager, Nicola Bowe, said:
“Sadly, it was a disappointing end to the competition. We have many lessons that we have learned from the series that we will take forward to next year. But on this occasion Scotland were the worthy winners. Well done to Scotland.”
It was a second-place finish for England Women and a second-place spot for England overall in the tables, with England Men finishing in third place. Whilst the tables do not showcase some of the great moments on the green for England, it was a disappointing end for our Under 25 Squad, with plenty of learnings to take away.
Thanks go to Belmont BC and the Irish Bowls Federation for hosting the 2024 event and their hospitality, and congratulations go to Scotland for their sterling performance throughout the Series.