ESMBA “Northern Promotion” weekend

With the British Isles Championships only 2 weeks away (Jan 29/30) the ESMBA were using this weekend (Jan 15/16) for practice at the Scarborough IBC for all their three squads (Seniors, Ladies and U21s) prior to making their final BI team selection. Their idea was to involve the Northern counties to promote/publicise their activities and give their squads some additional practice. The NYSMBA had been invited to pick a “Northern Select” team of ladies from across the North for a match on the 15th and once the names of those interested had been collected prior to Christmas, Jill Newsome took on the final organisation. All Northern counties had also received a late invitation from the ESMBA President (Brandon Whittaker) to send four players to play against some of the squad players as part of a Presidents team on 16th. Finally. there would be a question/answer session open to all ESMBA members to quiz the ESMBA committee on any topic.

Saturday January 15th:  Despite atrocious travel conditions (ice and freezing fog) both to the venue and back again, a 26 strong team of northern ladies attended made up of 3 from Stockport, 2 from Staffordshire, 7 from Humberside, 1 from West Yorkshire and 13 from North Yorkshire. The nominated England ladies team has only 19 members and 15 of these had made it to Scarborough. Everyone played in at least 3 sessions over the course of the day in an assortment of positions and in a variety of disciplines including fours, triples and three wood pairs. With 7 wins and 3 draws, the final result was a satisfying 17 points to 31. Some of the ladies also took part in an extra one or two matches against the England U21’s in the afternoon in which they managed a draw against this formidable young team.

In her closing comments the England Ladies Team Manager (Lynn Dean) extended an invitation to all ladies present to trial for a place in the England team in April. Overall, it was a most enjoyable days bowling against, and with,  people who began the day as strangers but parted as friends. Following feedback, we hope to arrange something similar for next season.

      
Liz Avis (Surrey) and  Jill Newsome in action
with Tracey Bailey (West Midlands) looking on

 

Sunday January 16th: This day was not deemed a success as the Saturday had been. Unfortunately, Brandon Whittaker (President) was absent due to covid and only 2 of the Northern Counties (North and West Yorkshire) had taken up the offer to send 4 players. It took some time to establish what format should be adopted and finally the 2 Northern Fours were offered 2 games against the U21’s. These games were all won by the Juniors. In the afternoon, after a complimentary lunch, another 2 games were planned, this time against the England Ladies. West Yorkshire decided this was not what they had come all the way from Leeds for and declined to play and left for home. Our Four did take part and won one game and lost the other.

Although the afternoon forum had been publicised to all NYSMBA clubs, this did not take place due to no-one actually turning up with any questions.