Emma stars in England triumph

Emma Cooper was involved in the winning England team at the British Isles Women’s Bowls Council Junior International Series, which ran from Friday until Sunday.

England, Scotland and Wales each fielded two teams, while hosts Ireland had a single team. Each team participated in a range of disciplines that replicated the formats used at world level.

One of five England debutants and one of only two players from Sussex, Cooper was in the triples for the ‘blue team’ alongside Hannah Overton (Huntingdonshire) and Katie Smith (Leicestershire). The blue team also contained a four, pair and singles player.

Each team was competing in its own right and going into the last day, the England team which Cooper was a member of was neck and neck with one of the Scotland teams.

The final game to be played was the decider and England emerged victorious to win the series.

The victory in Ballymena continued a fine run of form for Cooper, who the previous weekend won the Sussex County Under-25 Singles title for the third consecutive year and thereby earned the right to represent Sussex at the National Finals.

Last month Cooper was in Jersey representing England at the Women’s British Isles Championships.

For the second year running, the 17-year-old was a runner-up in the women’s under-25 pairs alongside Worthing-based Lorraine Kuhler, with whom she retained the English junior pairs title last summer.