ENGLAND TAKE A HAMMERING FROM THE SCOTS
England’s hopes of retaining the Home Internationals
were dealt a mortal blow when they were thrashed 11.5-3.5
by Scotland at Royal St George’s, Sandwich on day two
of the event. Having struggled to get past the Irish on day
one, England’s vulnerability was exposed by the Scots,
who put their opening day beating by Wales firmly behind them
by coming out with all guns blazing.
England, who lost the foursomes 3-1 with one match halved,
managed to win only one of the ten singles, courtesy of Jamie
Moul, along with two halves. It led to home captain Cecil
Bloice saying: “The result speaks for itself. It’s
pretty humiliating even embarrassing and you can’t hide
that. But we were pretty lethargic on the course and showed
little sparkle.”
In contrast, Scottish skipper George Crawford was pretty
upbeat. “It was a brilliant performance,” he said.
“After losing to Wales we knew another defeat would
put us out of it so we had to bounce back. The victory underlined
my team’s resilience.”
However, all is not lost for the English because with Ireland
beating Wales 9-6, it leaves all four countries with one win
and the quest for the championship back in the melting pot.
Any one of the four teams can still emerge triumphant but
tomorrow’s winners between England and Wales and Scotland
and Ireland will know that games won will be the deciding
factor.
For England, it was more than a bad day at the office. They
were unconvincing in the morning foursomes, winning only one
match thanks to Matthew Cryer and James Crampton, who both
extended their 100% records. But both experienced mixed fortunes
after lunch.
Cryer found Bryan Fotheringham a tough nut to crack and lost
3 and 1, while Crampton was one up going down the last against
George Murray only to leave his approach on the track behind
the green, which is an integral part of the course. He needed
two more to find the green while Murray got up-and-down from
behind the putting surface to win the hole and snatch a half.
Moul, the 20 year old from Suffolk, kept a cool head against
Andrew McArthur while the other Scots were tightening their
grip to emerge a 2 and 1 winner.
Otherwise it was a tale of Scottish supremacy with seven
victories and two halves from the ten singles.
Having trounced the Scots 10-5 yesterday, Wales found Ireland
a much tougher proposition. After losing the foursomes 3-2,
there was worse to come for the Welsh when James Williams
went down 9 and 8 to Darren Crowe.
After the opening hole was halved in bogey fives, Crowe won
the next nine holes, four with birdies. The unfortunate Williams
was out in 41 to Crowe’s 33 and the end came when Crowe
secured a birdie-three at the tenth.
Although Rhys Davies and Zac Gould completed comprehensive
wins for the Welsh and Ryan Thomas won on the last green,
Ireland carried the day to put themselves back in the contest.
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