Scotland v Ireland Test Match - Day 3
Scotland and Ireland entered their finals day play at the National Centre for Bowling, Ayr and contested the fourth and final test series of the weekend across two sessions play.
The Scots got off to a near perfect start in the morning session with three wins and a draw being registered across the men’s and women’s disciplines. Dee Hoggan maintained her 100% record in the women’s singles with a 21-12 victory over Ireland’s Catherine Beattie. The women’s fours was a much tighter affair as Claire Johnston’s rink battled back from 4-7 down to secure a 14-11 win. In the men’s pairs, Martyn Rice and Paul Foster MBE put in a strong display to come out on top against Stuart Bennett and Martin McHugh. The men’s triples was an extremely close encounter as neither team could gain the upper hand and the match ended in a 14-all draw.
In final session, Scotland’s women rounded off their weekend with another two strong victories in both the pairs and triples. Hannah Smith and Claire Johnston found themselves trailing by one shot in the pairs but impressively won the last six ends of the match to secure a 22-13 victory. Dee Hoggan, Megan Grantham and Carla Banks all played their part in a comfortable 21-9 victory in the triples.
Scotland’s men only needed to win one game in the last session to clinch the fourth test series, however, the Irish side had other ideas. Darren Burnett raced into a 7-2 lead in the singles against Ireland’s Martin McHugh but lost 14 shots on the bounce to trail 7-16, eventually losing out 13-21. The men’s fours lost out 5-13 in a close match where neither nation scored more than two shots on a single end. These two defeats meant that Ireland’s men came out victorious in the final test series.
Congratulations to all Scotland’s players for their impressive performances and results over the weekend. A huge thank you to the Irish Bowls Federation for making the trip over and providing stern competition ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Next up for our High Performance squad is the Home Nations at Royal Leamington Spa from Thursday 29th July – Sunday 1st August.
A full round-up of day threes scores and overall test series results is available below:
Session One (Test Match 4):
- Women’s Singles – Dee Hoggan 21 v Catherine Beattie 12
- Women’s Fours – Carla Banks, Hannah Smith, Megan Grantham & Claire Johnston 14 v Chloe Wilson, Ashleigh Rainey, Courtney Meneely & Shauna O’Neill 11
- Men’s Pairs – Martyn Rice & Paul Foster MBE 20 v Stuart Bennett & Martin McHugh 11
- Men’s Triples – Ronne Duncan, Darren Burnett & Alex Marshall MBE 14 v Stephen Kirkwood, Simon Martin & Mark Wilson 14
Session Two (Test Match 4):
- Women’s Pairs – Hannah Smith & Claire Johnston 22 v Lara Reaney & Catherine Beattie 13
- Women’s Triples – Dee Hoggan, Megan Grantham & Carla Banks 21 v Ashleigh Rainey, Courtney Meneely & Shauna O’Neill 9
- Men’s Singles – Darren Burnett 13 v Martin McHugh 21
- Men’s Fours – Martyn Rice, Ronnie Duncan, Paul Foster MBE & Alex Marshall MBE 5 v Stuart Bennett, Jack Moffett, Stephen Kirkwood & Mark Wilson 13
WOMEN’S TEST MATCH 4: SCOTLAND 8 v IRELAND 0
MEN’S TEST MATCH 4: SCOTLAND 3 v IRELAND 5
OVERALL WOMEN’S TEST SERIES: SCOTLAND 3 v IRELAND 1
OVERALL MEN’S TEST SERIES: SCOTLAND 2.5 v IRELAND 1.5