MIKE TITCOMBE from the Westlecot club made a superb debut appearance for England last weekend in the British Isles Junior International Series at Essex County Bowls Cub (Westcliffe-on-Sea).

He was originally named as first reserve for the England u25 side but drafted into the team as a late replacement for the sick Edward Elmore.

“It came as a complete surprise as I was only told I was playing on the Friday night during practice,” said Titcombe.

“It was the least likely way of getting a game I thought . I knew if I got a game it would be because the team weren’t doing very well and the selectors were making changes for that reason.

“It goes to show you can’t speculate as anything can happen but it rounded off a mad last few weeks but enjoyable time” he added.

Titcombe was named in Connor Cinato (Northants) rink at number three along with lead Danny Walker (Northants) and number two Tom Holmes (Herefordshire) and it turned out to be a highly successful quartet winning all three of their matches.

They won their Saturday opener beating an Ireland rink skipped by Jamie Watson 20-13 as England beat Ireland 121-98.

In the afternoon they followed it up with a narrow 19-17 win over John Fleming’s Scotland rink sealing victory with a three on the last end as England beat holders Scotland 125-114.

The final and deciding match on Sunday was against Wales.

Titcombe’s team were tied 16-16 at 20 ends with Wales but scored a two on the last to win 18-16 and complete a weekend hat-trick but England lost to Wales 121-123.

Unfortunately England were piped by a shot for the overall title after England, Scotland and Wales all tied with four points.

It went down to shots difference with Scotland’s 10-shot win over Ireland in the final group match giving Scotland the overall title for the third successive season plus 33 against England’s plus 32 and Wales -23.

It certainly has been a hectic but highly successful last three weeks for 24-year-old Titcombe.

He won the mixed pairs title with Westlecot colleague Lucy Smith at the national championships at Royal Leamington Spa in late August, then finished as a losing semi-finalist with Wiltshire Moonrakers in the finals of the White Rose (U25) Trophy, and now makes his first appearance for England at international level.