Some of the region’s best youngsters star in England victory over Scotland
A North East quartet played a major role in the England Schools’ win over their Scottish counterparts at Fairhaven.
Tyneside’s James Wilson (Walbottle Campus), Castle Eden’s Jack Trewhitt (Byron College), Heworth’s Will Marshall (Gateshead College) and Bishop Auckland’s Jessica Hall (Durham Sixth Form Centre) all booked their places with top performances in the National Schools Championships in June and all scored vital points in the 41st annual fixture at Fairhaven.
Jessica clinched her first cap and was named girls team captain – leading her side to a 5-4 win in which she led by example by capturing 1.5 points.
Her team had started with a 2-1 lead in the foursomes but faltered a little in the singles matches – coming through with a 3-3 score to secure the win.
In the boys match, England were 4–2 down at the break but came back to win the singles matches 7-5 and draw the match 9-9 with James’ performance a crucial one.
The Durham Matchplay champion used his experience to win both his singles and foursomes matches.
In the morning foursomes he played with the England captain Will Hopkins (Lincolnshire) and played arguably the shot of the day when he pitched to a foot on the 18th to ensure they held on to their 1up advantage.
Will and Jack narrowly lost their foursomes match in the morning 2&1 to an experienced Scottish pairing.
In the afternoon singles they both finished all square on the 18th in singles matches that were close throughout.
Next year the Durham County Schools Championships take place at Beamish Park on April 24 and the North of England Schools Championships will be at Whickham on June 2.
The Northumberland Schools’ Championships are yet to be confirmed but will staged within a week of the Durham event.
