Fitzpatrick and Pagdin help England retain Boys' Home Internationals crown

They won all three matches, against Ireland, Scotland and Wales, at St Annes Old Links.

Derek Hughes’s side successfully defended the trophy that they won at Ballyliffin in Ireland last year and England have now won the Under-18 team event 16 times since 1996.

An English victory was sealed during the morning foursomes against Scotland on Thursday when they took a 4-1 lead, while Wales, who had held a slim chance of catching them, lost their foursomes against Ireland by the same margin.

Despite the main prize having gone, Scotland restored some pride in the afternoon singles that they won 6-4, although narrowly losing the contest 8-7 overall.

Fitzpatrick scored a 4&3 victory over Greg Dalziel in the singles while USA-based Pagdin and Robin Williams, who both went into the final session with five wins out of five under their belts, both had their records broken when they lost on the 18th by one hole.

Pagdin was beaten by Jack Broun, while Williams fell to 13-year-old Calum Scott, who was chalking up his fifth victory in six matches.

Ireland finished on a high against Wales winning six of the ten afternoon singles and the match overall 10-5.

England will defend the Boys’ Home Internationals title in Scotland where the round-robin event will be played at Royal Dornoch from August 7-9 2018.