After holding England to a slender lead for most of the morning, a late Jersey lapse allowed their classy opponents to win on all six rinks, and by 128 shots to 79 – but an exciting 100-99 afternoon victory over Ireland put a spring back in the Channel Islanders’ step.
We won’t dwell on the final outcome of the English encounter, though several Jersey rinks threatened to do well in the early stages, and two or three rink wins looked likely.
Karina Bisson’s rink, for example, were only two shots adrift at 14 ends, before losing 22-14, while Suzie Dingle’s quartet looked ready to storm to victory when they led 13-5 after 11 ends, but went down 17-15.
Liz Cole’s rink led by one with two ends to play, when they dropped a four, and lost 25-21, and Joan Renouf’s quartet led by one at the halfway stage, but slipped to a 22-10 defeat in the second half.
Against Ireland, rink honours were shared, three-apiece, but it was Sue Noel’s rink that produced the biggest win, a 20-10 victory over Jennifer Dowds, while Joan Renouf won 17-8, and Margaret Breen weighed in with a 20-14 success.
Renouf, who is skipping for Jersey for the first time, was particularly pleased with her win, because her opponent, a veteran of world championships and Commonwealth Games, was making her fiftieth appearance for Ireland.
Although Liz Cole lost 17-10, she was playing against the legendary Margaret Johnston, arguably the best woman bowler in the history of the sport, who won the British pairs on Monday, and has won all her matches in the series.
‘That win over Ireland was very satisfying, because it proves once again we can match them,’ said Boswell.
‘The next step has to be knocking over one of the other three teams – but that may prove much more difficult.’ There is, in fact, little to chose between England, Scotland and Wales, who all seem to have that little bit of extra class.
‘We seem to be able to stay with them so far, but there comes a point when they are able to move up a gear, and we haven’t learnt to do that yet,’ Boswell added.
‘I am sure that more exposure to international competition will reap dividends, and, although I don’t want to name names, it was good to see how well young Rachel MacDonald coped with the pressure at this level.’ Jersey enjoyed a bye this morning, while England and Scotland skirmished for the title, and Ireland took on Wales in an effort to avoid the wooden spoon.
This time, the Jersey players were cheering on the Welsh.
