The longest day of the year seemed to be the coldest, wettest and windiest of the so-called summer, and it was all summed up by someone who described proceedings as ‘midsummer madness’.
‘We’ve never encountered conditions like this,’ said Eileen, as she went from rink to rink handing out bananas and other delicacies to sustain her team.
‘We’re just not used to it back home and the girls are struggling.’ Jersey’s hopes sank in the heavy rain, as the greens got heavier and heavier, and their best efforts were blown away by the gusting winds that made accurate drawing to the jack impossible.
Only two rinks – skipped by Sue Dingle and Karina Bisson – gave the Scots any trouble, the former losing by five shots (18-13) to Betty Duckett’s rink, and the latter going down by four (14-10) to Margaret Russell.
Sue Noel dropped a seven on the last end as her rink lost 33-5, and Liz Cole’s quartet finished 30-11 adrift, while Margaret Breen and Gina Le Long lost 25-5 and 23-13 respectively.
Bisson, the new British Isles singles champion, said: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever played in conditions like that.
I thought Manchester was bad enough in the Commonwealth Games four years ago, but today was incredible.’ Despite that huge 144-57 defeat at the hands of the defending champions, Jersey could still come away with credit, and are hoping to finish in fourth place in the final league table if they can beat Ireland today.
England, who face Jersey this morning, had the afternoon off yesterday to contemplate their unscheduled pre-prandial defeat at the hands of Wales, and will be determined to put the record straight against the Channel Islanders.
But even if England put one over on Jersey before lunch, the red-clad Islanders will come out fighting this afternoon, because a win over Ireland would be enough to keep Jersey off the bottom of the table for the third time in four years – and that would be quite an achievement.
Results Women’s home international series at Ayr Northfield Scotland bt Jersey 144-57.
Rink scores (Scotland skips first): Russell 14, K Bisson 10; Lindores 26, M Breen 5; Black 23, G Le Long 13; Barr 33, S Noel 5; Duckett 18, S Dingle 13; Dickson 11, L Cole 30.
Scotland bt Ireland 113-73; Wales bt England 95-91; Wales bt Ireland 104-96.
