A TEAM of Royal Wootton Bassett Bowls Club players were crowned the best in the country after triumphing at the British Isles Championships.
The club’s senior fours team of Kevin Embling, Graham Richards, Alan Small and David Snell qualified to represent England at the competition after winning the national senior fours championships in 2018.
That led to a place at the British Isles Championships in Ayr, Scotland, where the quartet triumphed one again – becoming the first from the club to win an international title.
As part of the Bowls England squad, they flew to Glasgow from Bristol last Wednesday before travelling onto Ayr by coach.
They were allowed a one-hour roll-up at Northfields – home of Bowls Scotland – before starting their competition at 9am the next morning, having been drawn to face Wales.
The quartet were never behind and won 17-11 after 18 ends to progress to a semi-final against Ireland.
Again, the team had a brilliant start to the match, picking up a maximum count of eight on the second end and being 13-2 up at five ends.
Ireland came back hard and were leading 16-14 at 10 ends before the scores were level at 18-18 at 15 ends and 20-20 at 17 ends.
The final end was a real nail-biter, with the last bowl from Snell enough to secure victory for England.
That meant a meeting with Scotland in the final the next day, where England again started well.
They were 6-3 up after five ends, and although 10-6 down at 10 ends, they led 16-12 again at 15 ends and 17-13 with one to play.
Scotland held a three-shot lead on the final end, but with his last bowl, Snell again drew second shot, and the Scottish skipper was unable to dislodge him as England earned a 17-14 victory.
After all matches were completed, the presentations were made by the BIBC president where the Bassett players received a silver salver alongside their individual gold medals.
Their victory also gave England four points, which was enough for the team to win the overall series.
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