At the start of day two of the British Isles Championships at Auchinleck IBC in Scotland the England players know that for some of them it could be a very big day. Ireland lead the way in the British Isles Premier Team Championships finishing day one with six points after beating England 36-29 on shots, Wales 38-33 on shots and Scotland 49-18. Wales are in second place with four points and England third with two points. Scotland trail without points after losing all their three games. Bob Carter’s Gary Best was playing at number three in Ross Dunkley of West Mids rink. They won 11-4 against Scotland and followed up with a fine 11-7 win against Wales. They completed a hat-trick of day one wins by beating John Quinn’s Irish rink 7-6 in Round 3. Wymondham’s Jack Pye and AJ Brown were playing in Adam Smith’s rink. They enjoyed a big win in Round 1 against Scotland, but went down 15-3 against Nick Evan’s Welsh rink in Round 2. They also lost 13-4 against Gary McNabb’s Irish rink in Round 3. Ireland also lead the way at close of play on day one of the British Isles A Team Championships. They have six points after beating Wales 55-21 in Round One, Scotland by 63-19 in Round 2 and England by 43-29 in Round 3. Wales are in second place with four points, England are in third place with two points and host’s Scotland fourth with no points. Chris Willies’ rink beat Scotland’s Scott White 13-5 as England beat Scotland 37-29 on shots in their Round 1 match. James Trott’s rink, including Morgan Warnes, won 9-3. Michael Dooray’s rink, with Jason Woods at number three, lost 10-6 and Mark White’s rink with Watton’s Simon Willies at lead lost 11-9. Round 2 saw England “A” go down by 45-37 against Wales. Chris Willies’ rink were the only winners for England with a superb 19-2 win but solid wins for Wales on the other three mats saw them home and dry. England’s Round 3 match against Ireland ended in a 43-29 shots defeat. Chris Willies rink provided the only win for England in this session with a 10-4 victory while Michael Dooray’s rink drew 8-8.
In the Premier Individual events Bob Carter’s Gary Best and Cheshire’s Matty Worden are in a good position in the B.I Pairs. On day one they rattled up a 22-12 win in their opening game against Scotland before slipping to a narrow 11-13 defeat against the Irish pair. But amazingly all four pairs are level with two points each and the England pairs shot difference of +8 puts gives them a great advantage. Their remaining match is against the Irish pair who have a +1 shot difference, Wales are on evens on shots while Scotland have a -9 deficit. The other Premier Individual events see England (C Beale-A Kley-S Harvey) leading the triples with four points and +12 shots and have the Irish, on just one point, still to play. England also lead the Fours event with three points and +1 while Ireland have two points and +11 and Scotland also have two points but with -11 shots. The England Four’s last game is against Scotland. Michael John of Wales leads the Singles with four points and +7 shots after winning both his games but is still to play England’s Peter Roberts who is on two points with +2 shots. Also in contention are Ireland who are on two points with +1 but play Scotland who lost both games and are on -10 shots.
In the A Team Individual events Bob Carter’s Morgan Warnes & Jason Woods are playing with Dorset’s Chris Hall in the Triples. They won their opening game 15-6 against Scotland but lost their second game by 11-15 against the Irish and have just Wales to play. Ireland are in a very strong position with four points and +21 shots ahead of England and Scotland with two points each. Wymondham’s Jack Marshall, playing with Glen Harvey in the pairs, looks on the brink of a B.I title. A great opening day saw them beat Ireland 16-13 and then beat Wales 17-13 and they have just Scotland to play who had a difficult first day losing 16-12 to Ireland and 19-3 against Wales. Watton Expendables bowler Chris Willies is playing at number three in Mark White’s four in the Fours event and they too look hot favourites to win the title. A huge 23-9 win against Wales and a tight 10-9 win against Ireland put them in the driving seat on four points and +15 shots and they play Scotland today who currently have no points and a -25 shots deficit.
Gary Best - a hat-trick of wins on Day One of the B.I C'ships