Lewis And Hemstock Make Full England Debuts Against France

[Newsroom]

British and English Boys Champion Tom Lewis (Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire), is one of two new caps named in the England team to face France at Chantilly on Sunday 16th and Monday 17th May.

The other newcomer is Billy Hemstock (Teignmouth, Devon), while the rest of the team are seasoned internationals, most being members of the victorious line-up from last year’s Home Internationals at Hillside and of the team that retained the European Nations Cup in Spain last month.

They are: Jamie Abbott (Fynn Valley, Suffolk), Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall, Lancashire), Matt Haines (Rochester & Cobham, Kent), Stiggy Hodgson (Sunningdale, Surrey), Matt Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire), Chris Paisley (Stocksfield, Northumberland), and Eddie Pepperell (Drayton Park, BB&O). Non-travelling reserves: Jack Senior (Heysham, Lancashire) and Tom Shadbolt (Mid Herts, Hertfordshire)

Lewis, 19, carried all before him last year, topping off a highly-successful season by winning the English Boys title for the Carris Trophy at Moor Park when he edged out Chris Lloyd in a sudden death playoff that lasted five holes. Then in the British Boys, he beat team-mate Eddie Pepperell in an all-English final at Royal St George’s. Lewis also helped England win the Boys Home Internationals at Hankley Common and was a member of the winning Jacques Leglise team at Ganton. He has maintained that success this year by winning the Berkhamsted Trophy last month.

Hemstock, 26, is the current Devon Champion, having also won in 2007. He has been a top-ten finisher in many tournaments over recent years including runner-up in the Duncan Putter and the Irish Open Amateur in 2008 and second last year when representing the EGU in the Chiberta Grand Prix in France. Also in 2009, he achieved third places in the Tillman Trophy, the Finnish Amateur and the European Amateur and he reached the last 16 of the English Amateur Championship. Over the winter, Hemstock represented the EGU in the Simon Bolivar Cup in Venezuela and in the Jones Cup in America.

Abbott, 22, made his England debut in the 2008 Home Internationals at Muirfield and has enjoyed many high finishes in recent seasons including losing sudden death playoffs for the Lagonda Trophy and the Portuguese Amateur last year. He was also runner-up in the 2009 Berkhamsted Trophy.

Fleetwood, 19, finished runner-up this year in the New South Wales Amateur and the Spanish Amateur when he was beaten by England team-mate Haines. However, the Lancastrian won the Scottish Open Stroke Play last year, was a quarter-finalist in the Amateur Championship and was a member of the Walker Cup team. Like Abbott, he was capped for the first time in the 2008 Home Internationals following a runner-up spot in the Amateur Championship.

Haines’ Spanish Amateur success followed a successful 2009 in which the 20-year-old from Kent won the Berkhamsted Trophy, Hampshire Hog, Hampshire Salver and Duncan Putter and finished runner-up in the Welsh Open Stroke Play and the St Andrews Links Trophy. Haines was also selected for the Walker Cup in America having, like Fleetwood, been an England regular throughout last year.

Hodgson, 19, preceded Lewis as the 2008 English Boys Champion. Also that year he won the McEvoy Trophy, the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy and retained the Daily Telegraph Junior Championship he won in 2007. Walker Cup selection followed a successful 2009 in which Hodgson won the Sunningdale Foursomes, finished runner-up in the Junior Orange Bowl in America, the Hampshire Hog and the South of England Stroke Play and was third in the Tillman Trophy. He also reached the Amateur Championship semi-finals, the English Amateur quarter-finals and made his full England debut in the Home Internationals.

Nixon, 20, was British Boys Champion in 2006 and in 2007 he made his England debut in the Boys Home Internationals. He reached the quarter finals of the English Amateur in 2008 and helped Lancashire win the English County title. Last year, Nixon finished third in the West of England Stroke Play and fourth in the Brabazon Trophy, in which he was a joint winner of the Henriques Salver. He also made his debut as a full cap in the Home Internationals, losing just once in four matches.

Paisley, 24, a graduate from the University of Tennessee, won the 2008 Czech Amateur Championship and also finished runner-up in the Tillman Trophy, the English Amateur Championship and the South of England Open Stroke Play Championship. He played for GB&I in the 2008 St Andrews Trophy and last year made his England debut in the Home Internationals as well as the Walker Cup.

Pepperell, 19, enjoyed a string of successes as a junior, winning the English Under 14 title in 2005, finishing runner-up in the Under 16 Championship in 2006 after which he became a boy international. He stepped up as a full cap in the 2008 Home Internationals and finished runner-up in the McEvoy Trophy and the Bernard Darwin Salver. That year he also reached the Spanish Amateur semi-finals and the quarter finals in 2009, while a last eight place followed in the English Amateur. His second place to Lewis in the British Boys led to selection for the Jacques Leglise Trophy.

England has only been beaten four times in 30 meetings with France dating back to 1934. But England captain Colin Edwards is expecting a close contest this time.

“I expect France to field a very strong side and we will have our work cut out to win over there,” he said. “The French supplied the top four finishers in the recent Portuguese Amateur and they have had other successes. But we won the European Nations Cup impressively and we have also had other fine individual early season performances. So I think it will be a tight match.”