Northern Counties champions Yorkshire show mettle with commanding opening-day win
Captain Helen Lilley’s team produced a clean sweep in the morning foursomes and took five of the six singles, the exception seeing Woodsome Hall’s Lily Hirst fall to a formidable opponent in England Under-16 international Caitlin Whitehead.
Reigning Yorkshire champion Olivia Jackson (Pannal) led the way in the afternoon with a one-hole victory in the top game.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdLilley was able to give 10 of the 11 players currently at her disposal first-day assignments with the 12th – Selby’s Megan Garland, who won the first of successive county titles at Fixby two years ago – unavailable until Thursday.
Sand Moor’s Toni Louise Naylor and Lightcliffe’s Hannah Holden were the only Yorkshire combatants to play morning and afternoon, both with maximum success.
Sickleholme’s Lilley commented: “It was extremely tough because it was cold in the morning and the wind was swirling; the greens are still very hard and fast, but we played well.
“Fortunately we did have a very windy practice day a couple of weeks ago, so that gave us a bit of a clue as to what it might be like.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdLilley said that Yorkshire’s foursomes pairings for the day-two assignment with Northumberland would be “a mixture: some the same, some different.”
Lancashire, depleted due to the absence of both their 2017 and 2018 champions, went down to a 5-4 defeat to Durham while Cheshire triumphed 6-3 against Northumberland.