Bowls

Kirsty on national title trail

Kirsty Clarke, aged 16, of Beccles Indoor Bowls Club, capped a memorable fortnight of bowls when she qualified for the U25 National Championships at Melton Mowbray Bowls Club next month. The previous weekend she was selected to play for England U18 in the Home International Series in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Two teams from England, Scotland, Wales and one each from Ireland and the Channel Isles competed in two round robin groups on the Saturday with the group winners and runner-ups playing each other on Sunday.

Kirsty, playing in the triples helped her team through to the final, where they met the other England team. Despite winning their triples they finished as runners-up as both the singles and pairs were lost.

Last weekend she travelled to the Norfolk Bowling Club in Norwich to compete in the area qualifiers for the National U25 Championships. Her first round draw couldn't have been tougher as she was up against the reigning National Champion and England international, Rebecca Field. Kirsty lost the first set 2-8 but began to find her rhythm towards the end and carried this on into the second set. This she won 7-4, taking the game into a three end tie-breaker. Rebecca won the first end but Kirsty held her nerve to win the next two and progress to the next round where she met Rebecca Carter, the reigning Norfolk U25 singles outdoor champion. Kirsty built a lead in the first set but allowed her opponent to come back and tie the scores going into the final end. Again Kirsty held her nerve to deliver four perfect bowls and take the set 11-9.

In the second set she powered to a 9-4 win. In the final against clubmate and friend Louise Catchpole, Kirsty played two perfect sets of bowls to win 9-4, 15-1. She will now go on to the national finals, where 16 of the country's top bowlers will be competing.