BASINGSTOKE indoor bowler Nicole Rogers helped England retain the British Isles Ladies under-25 series last weekend in Belfast.

The event saw the top 16 bowlers from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England take part.

The first game saw the hosts lose 128-39 to Scotland.

England then opened their account against Wales with the Welsh looking to cause an upset when leading at the half way stage.

However, England dug deep and managed to pull away to win 84-61.

In the second round of matches Scotland continued their dominance with a convincing win over Wales

97-47.

However, in the Northern Ireland and England match it was a different story.

After 12 of the 84 ends. the young Irish players an upset looked possible, but England in the end came out on top 93-64.

This set up a winner takes all clash with slight favourites Scotland on the final day.

There were mixed fortunes across the four rinks in the early stage and at the halfway point England’s Dennis found herself 15-5 down and Stevens was all square.

However, the rinks skipped by England captain Chelsea Tomlin and Katherine Rednall (which included Rogers) had powered out of the blocks and were 14-6 and 15-2 ahead respectively.

Scotland did try a fightback but England had finally found their game to pull away again to win 96-66 to retain the title.

The rink scores were Dennis (16-26), Stevens (20-16), Tomlin (27-14) and K Rednall (33-10).

This gave England captain Chelsea Tomlin a great send off in her last match as captain as she will be too old for next year’s series, along with five other teams mates.

Having to rebuild the team for next year event will make defending the title difficult, even more so as it will be hosted in the backyard of their arch rivals Scotland.

In the other match Wales beat Northern Ireland 91-57.