Wales Ladies got off to a great start in their Home Internationals campaign with a comfortable win over England, the team that beat them on match countback to claim the title last year.
A series of tight singles matches went the Welsh way by a single hole to give them an overall victory of 6.5 points to 2.5 over the foursomes and singles competition at Scotscraig golf club in Scotland.
It gives Wales a chance of re-claiming the Home Internationals title they last won in 2009 and would be a third title under Wales Ladies coach Jeremy Bennett.
Wrexham's Chloe Williams and Vale of Glamorgan's Katie Bradbury were the two players to claim two points on the day winning both their matches, while Haverfordwest's Becky Harries had a win in the foursomes alongside Llandudno Maesdu's Amy Boulden.
Harries halved with Sarah Jane Boyd in the afternoon, while Boulden lost a high class encounter with England's star player Georgia Hall, an Australian Youth Olympics gold medallist, 3 and 1 in the afternoon singles.
The day started strongly with Welsh champions Boulden and Harries leading the way with a one hole victory over Hall and Lauren Taylor in the foursomes. Williams and Bradbury won the second match 3 and 2 against Alexandra Peters and Gabriella Cowley.
Samantha Birks, Wolstanton, and Katherine O'Connor, Tadmarton Heath, lost the final match 4 and 3 to Boyd and Rachael Goodall.
However the match hinged on the singles and the Welsh ability to squeeze through a series of close encounters, with the 17th hole playing a crucial role as all four matches that were won by a single hole rested on winning the 17th and holding on to halve the 18th.
Boulden and Harries set the tone in the morning foursomes, then Williams, Bradbury and Birks all repeated the trick in the afternoon singles. Harries battled back from three down at the turn to halve her match with Boyd.
Newport's Jess Evans saw off Amber Ratcliffe 3 and 2 to complete the victory.
Next Wales face Ireland before taking on hosts Scotland on the final day.
0 comments:
Post a Comment