Fay Le Mottée, Liz Cole, Pat de Gruchy and Alison Camacho earned pride of place when they defeated favourites Wales, skipped by the legendary Betty Morgan, in the final of the British women’s fours championship at Royal Leamington Spa on Saturday.
With Camacho herself in imperious form, the game was a low-scoring affair in which no quarter was asked or give, and only 21 shots were scored in the allotted 18 ends.
‘But it wasn’t just me,’ insisted Camacho, who skipped Le Mottée and Olive Crowhurst to the British triples title at Les Creux last year. ‘I’m so thrilled for the girls, who gave tremendous support throughout, and it means such a lot to us.’
Crowhurst has since emigrated to Australia, and Le Mottée and Camacho were joined by their Sun clubmates, the vastly experience Cole and the consistent de Gruchy for this latest triumph.
‘We could easily have been in two more finals,’ claimed Greechan. ‘Our pair were desperately unlucky to be beaten by Wales by one shot in the semi- final, and our triple pushed the eventual champions all the way before the Welsh trio, skipped by Wendy Price, got over the line.’
Di Canavan, who won the Jersey pairs title with her St Saviours clubmate Crowhurst last year, was joined by St Brelade ace Lindsey Greechan, who seemed to have played the perfect trail to make three shots with the last bowl of their semi-final against Welsh duo Laura Price and Jess Sims.
But she carried the jack an inch too far, and had to settle for just one shot, and a heart-breaking 17-16 defeat – and the Welsh pair went on to lift the title.
Sun trio Cathy Le Sueur, Eileen Vowden and Jackie Knight always seemed to have the edge over their Welsh opponents in the triples semi final, and were 17-16 ahead with just two ends to play, before frustratingly dropping a double and a single to lose, 19-17.
Yesterday saw the start of the team series, and again Jersey punched above their weight, though they lost by 20 shots to Wales, 126-106.
‘There were lots of positives to take from that defeat,’ said Greechan, who, despite being one of Jersey’s best skips, is relishing her role as non-playing captain and team manager. ‘Twenty shots across six rinks is very little, and I was proud that we held our own with a strong Welsh team.’
In fact, Sue Noel’s rink did more than that, chalking up a 30-14 win over a Welsh rink skipped by Isobel Jones, while Joan Renouf skipped her rink to a 24-14 win over Kathy Pearce’s Welsh quartet.
Jackie Knight lost by three shots, Margaret Breen by five, and Doreen Moon by 15 – but the damage was done on the rink skipped by the normally reliable Alison Comacho, who crashed to a 34-11 defeat at the hands of Wales’s top skip Anwen Butten.
