Spalding Indoor Bowls Club’s Ruby Hill, Annie Dunham and Chelsea Tomlin helped steer England to a third successive victory at the British Isles International Series.
Hill and Dunham were selected to play at lead and number three respectively in the same rink with Laura Holden (Clevedon) at number two and skipped by Michelle Coleman (St Neots) at Llanelli Indoor Bowls Club in Wales.
Tomlin, meanwhile, was selected at number three in a rink skipped by Hartlepool’s Danielle Martinson, with Devon Cooper (also Hartlepool) at lead and Harriet Stevens (Exonia) at number two.
England were the defending champions going in to the series and started their campaign on Friday against hosts Wales.
England stamped their authority from the outset and by ten ends, were 69-45 up. This was extended to 105-70 at 15 ends before closing out a comfortable 153-95 win.
Despite performing well, Hill and Dunham found their opposition on top form on their particular rink as they lost 13-19 against a rink skipped by Amy Williams, while Tomlin’s rink had a good 29-20 win against former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Laura Daniels.
The other match of the day saw Scotland beat Ireland 152-78.
Next up were Ireland and, as expected, England showed their class and were soon 40 shots ahead (71-31) at ten ends.
Winning on five of the six rinks, England won comfortably by a 141-89 margin.
Hill and Dunham had an impressive 28-10 rink win against Ireland’s Sarah Jane, while Tomlin found their opposing skip in particular in top form as they narrowly went down on their rink 16-18 against Dessa Baird.
The other match on Saturday saw somewhat of a shock result as Wales battled back against Scotland to win 116-113.
On Sunday, the penultimate match of the series saw Wales beat Ireland comfortably (151-97) – which meant that in order to win the series, England needed to avoid a losing margin of 20 shots or more against Scotland.
Despite the situation of the series, pride was also at stake and neither side would want to experience defeat.
You have to go back as far as 1988 to find another country other than England and Scotland who have won the ladies’ international series – which really does show the dominance of the two sides over the last 30 years.
However, it was England who made it a third successive series win as they were always in control against Scotland before securing another comfortable 125-90 win.
Hill and Dunham lost a close encounter 18-21 against Scotland’s Lorraine Craig, while Tomlin’s rink enjoyed a good win against one of Scotland’s more experienced skips, Margaret Letham.
