The Elite squad continued their preparations for Birmingham 2022 with a trip to Scotland this weekend, as the selectors start to make the tough decisions ahead of the Commonwealth Games year.
With not long left to go to make an impression, the action at the National Centre for Bowling in Ayr will be important for Performance Director John McGuinness and his team when making their final analysis.
And the players certainly didn’t make these discussions any easier, performing fantastically well over the four days of action against teams from Scotland, Ireland and Wales. As the table below indicates, England’s women won their competition; whilst the men came second in theirs. Due to the varying stages of the Home Nations’ selection processes, Scotland (Men & Women) and Ireland (Men) had two teams in the mix.
WOMEN:
| OVERALL |
Played
|
Won | Draw | Lost | SF | SA | SD |
Points
|
|
|
1
|
England | 16 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 285 | 204 | 81 | 24 |
|
2
|
Scotland Alloway
|
16 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 247 | 227 | 20 | 20 |
|
3
|
Wales | 16 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 253 | 266 | -13 | 16 |
|
4
|
Scotland Culzean
|
16 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 215 | 254 | -39 | 12 |
|
5
|
Ireland | 16 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 228 | 277 | -49 | 8 |
MEN:
| OVERALL |
Played
|
Won | Draw | Lost | SF | SA | SD |
Points
|
|
|
1
|
Scotland Alloway
|
20 | 13 | 0 | 7 | 326 | 278 | 48 | 26 |
|
2
|
England | 20 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 336 | 298 | 38 | 21 |
|
3
|
Ireland A | 20 | 9 | 2 | 9 | 324 | 323 | 1 | 20 |
|
4
|
Wales | 20 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 310 | 327 | -17 | 19 |
|
5
|
Ireland B | 20 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 282 | 319 | -37 | 19 |
|
6
|
Scotland Culzean
|
20 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 300 | 333 | -33 | 15 |
You can find a full selection of scores here: MULTI-NATIONS (Scotland) – Google Drive
Performance Director John McGuinness said: “It was a very successful weekend and the players got a lot out of it, as it presented another opportunity to play against top international opposition.
“It was also another positive step with the selection process for the Games next year, with all players looking to stake their claim in the team. I am very proud of how all the players are conducting themselves and the effort that they are putting into the programme.
“Regarding the actual event, I am delighted with the performances from the women especially, who came out on top once again. The men also performed very well against top opposition finishing second. Bowls Scotland did a great job in hosting the event and I thank them and all the other nations for making it such a success.”