AS the women’s home international series draws to a hopefully exciting conclusion at Les Creux this morning, the host’s bowlers will reflect ruefully on their record - played four, lost four.
But those harsh statistics hide much Jersey can be proud of, as they played with skill and determination in all four matches, and did well to return ten winning cards from 24 rink games.
Opening on Saturday with a 31 shots defeat (109-78) at the hands of Wales, Jersey had two winning rinks, as Alison Camacho (formerly Alison Birch) and Gina Le Long steered their rinks to wins of 15-12 and 22-16 respectively.
And, although they lost by 11 shots, 108-97, to Ireland, they actually chalked up wins on four rinks, this time skipped by Le Long, Liz Cole, Sue Dingle and Karina Bisson, thanks to good play across the green.
Yesterday morning Jersey faced Scotland, who had inflicted a shock defeat on defending champs England, and a surprise seemed on the cards when the Islanders forged into the lead over the first quarter.
However, a deluge of rain changed the conditions, and the Scots, who adjusted better than the home side, took control, powering into the lead, and winning by a somewhat flattering margin of 34 shots - 113-79.
Even so, Karina Bisson and Alison Camacho skipped their rinks to good wins, Bisson’s quartet beating Margaret Russell 18-8 and Camacho’s team edging home 17-14 against Roberta Hutchinson.
Jersey completed their programme with an encounter with England yesterday afternoon, and produced perhaps their best performance of the weekend, giving the holders of the Eve Trophy quite a scare.
Jersey’s selectors, looking for their best combination, had reshuffled their 26-woman squad, so that the make-up of the team changed in every game, and they promoted young Lindsey Greechan to skip against England.
A lively performance from Greechan, well supported by Sue Noel, Lorraine Murphy and Joan Renouf, produced a 23-15 win over one of England’s best skips, Jeannie Baker.
Astonishingly, Greechan’s rink trailed 15-3 after nine ends, but an irresistible display saw them pick up 20 shots without reply on the last nine ends for a memorable victory.
Karina Bisson again inspired her team of Sheila Horman (Karina’s mum), Gean O’Neil and Myrtle de la Haye to a tremendous win on rink one, which certainly gave local supporters plenty to cheer about.
The rink skipped by Greechan’s mum, Gina Le Long, played well enough to keep the margin of their defeat by Pat Reynolds to just four shots, and Camacho’s quartet were pipped by Doreen Hankin’s rink by one shot.
The final scoreline of 100-88 brought much credit to Jersey, and certainly pleased non-playing team captain Jean Lowery, who had ruled herself out as a player to concentrate on her new off-green role.
‘It was strange not to be playing, and I found it frustrating, but very rewarding,’ Lowery said last night.
‘As for the performance of the team, there were a lot of positives to take out of the series.’ She added: ‘There’s obviously room for improvement, and we have a number of promising newcomers who must come under consideration in future, but we did well to win ten rink matches, and were never outclassed.’ Pointing out that there are only five clubs in Jersey, Lowery said: ‘We faced world-class opposition, and showed we can hold our own.’ She rejected suggestions that Jersey had enjoyed a modicum of home advantage over the weekend, and explained how the Les Creux greens had played much faster than at any stage this season.
‘The sun and wind speeded up the greens tremendously, and the conditions were quite different from those we encountered in practice.’ Lowery praised the way in which the Jersey Women’s Bowls Association had organised the event, and for the help received, not only from members of the host club, but from the other clubs in Jersey, too.
Today, Scotland need only to draw with Wales today to regain the British team title they last won in 2002.
Indeed, they could afford to lose narrowly to Wales, as long as neither England nor Ireland, who meet in the final session, fail to achieve a substantial winning margin.
Scotland bt England 103-85.
Wales bt Jersey 109-78 - Rink scores (Wales skips first): A Butten 12, A Camacho 15; K Pearce 30, L Cole 10; N Shipperlee 19, S Noel 8; A Lewis 14, K Bisson 12; G Miles 16, G Le Long 22; B Morgan 18, S Dingle 11.
England bt Wales 110-94.
Ireland bt Jersey 108-97 - (Ireland skips first): P Montgomery 23, Noel 10; M Johnston 14, Le Long 17; M Barber 24, Camacho 14; B Cameron 16, Cole 18; P Day 14, Dingle 19; M Mallon 17, Bisson 19.
Ireland bt Wales 98-89.
Scotland bt Jersey 113-79 - (Scotland skips first): Russell 8, Bisson 18; Black 19, Dingle 13; Hutchinson 14, Camacho 17; Dickson 24, Le Long 11; Lindores 23, Cole 12; Barr 25, Noel 8.
England bt Jersey 100-88 - Rink scores (England skips first): Price 10, Bisson 19; Hankin 15, Camacho 14; Baker 15, L Greechan 23; P Reynolds 16, Le Long 12; Monkhouse 21, Cole 15; Duarte 23, Dingle 5.
Scotland bt Ireland 98-91.
Article posted on 21st June, 2004 - 12.00am
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