Page 10 - Winter 2013
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            10     down with two ends to go but on the next end they scored a stunning 6 before conceding
                   a single on the last end to win 15 - 11.
                 Mitchell Young, Ben Pay, Adam Sultana & Skip Dominic Reed led 6 - 0 after two ends but 4
           singles to Scotland closed the gap, at which point the England four upped their game to win 14 -
           5. Not far behind Steve Proctor, Andrew Beard, Ben Render & Grant Soller only lost 3 of their 12
           ends to win 13 - 5. Completing the line-up for England, David Newsome, Steve Packer, John
           Pitcher & Gareth Stanway won 13 - 10.
           THE VERDICT
           THE VERDICT

           As a former Player, Captain and Manager, I have deliberately refrained on commenting on England
           Players, Managers and performances since I left the job in 1998. However, the passage of time is
           such that I now feel free to comment and tell it as I see it and we all of course have our views.
           Firstly, let me deal with The 2013 Brits. Ireland came out on top as usual, winning four of the six
           events, the team championship, the Fours and the Triples as well as the McDermott Trophy, given
           for the country taking the most points from across all the events. Wales took the Singles and I was
           delighted to see Scotland take the Pairs.
                 As for England, a player asked me for a good report but thankfully the Manager, Brandon
           Whittaker (of whom I have no criticism) said write is as you see it. The bottom line is of course
           that in the last two Championships England have won only one of the ten events, twelve if you in-
           clude the McDermott Trophy. Have they played badly overall? Probably not except some individual
           player performances have left a lot to be desired and I would certainly criticise the use of straighter
           running bowls in Ireland as I watched many slide by the jack instead of turning in. Presumably
           these were the bowls they used on Verde mats but in this event was played on slower Wygreen’s.
                 I still feel the first lesson that aspiring England players should learn is that the tools you use
           should be matched to the job in hand.
           Also, there are bowlers who are the
           top dogs in England but at Interna-
           tional level they will certainly be found
           out if they are not on top form. I know
           that Brandon Whittaker the England
           Manager also has a sensible view on
           using bowls for the type of mats you
           play on.
                 England have won the team title
           only twice in 28 attempts, in 1992 and
           2011, each time they were away from
           home in Wales and Scotland respec-
           tively and each time they played on
           speedy mats on wooden floors.
                 We have not done at home in
           England and thus we have not driven
           home any advantage we have on the
           quicker mats. Every Manager, includ-
           ing myself has struggled to find 16 re-
           ally good players in four good rinks.
                 Someone  recently  asked  me
           about the standards 20 years ago and
           today in respect of the very top stan-
           dard. My answer was that the very top
           standard has not changed much but
           many more English players are now
           reaching that top standard but it has
           not resulted (so far) in more wins.
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