Desborough Bowls Club lands prestigious u25s home nations international series

Desborough Bowls Club will host the British Isles u25 Women’s International Series at their base in Green Lane next February.

The club won a tendering process to stage the home nations matches, the major u25s Women’s International Indoor Bowls competition that takes place in the UK each year.

England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales will take each other on in a series of matches, and Desborough hope they’ll be able to get local mascots from the area to lead out the teams before matches.

The competition is set to take place on Saturday, February 7 and Sunday, February 8 and entry for the whole of the weekend is only £5per person. Desborough are expecting supporters of the teams to travel from around the country to see their friends and family in action.

The teams each comprise of 16 players, and six matches will take place across the two days.

England get their competition underway against Wales, with Scotland taking on Ireland at the same time. Both of those matches get underway on the Saturday morning from 9.45am. In the afternoon matches, (2.45pm start) England and Ireland will lock horns on the green with Scotland in action against Wales.

Then on the Sunday morning, England take on Scotland and Ireland play Wales at 9.30am to see which of the four teams will be crowned home nations champions.

On home turf, England will likely go into the championships as heavy favourites.

It is hoped the competition will help grow participation and interest in the sport across younger age groups and lead to improved knowledge and appreciation of the sport in schools, community groups, among residents in Maidenhead and beyond and the wider bowls community.

From Desborough’s perspective, this is an excellent opportunity to bring some of the country’s best young female players to their new facilities at Green Lane.

They also want to address the stereotype that bowls is a game for the older generation and raise the club’s profile while also gaining recognition as having one of the best indoor and outdoor bowls venues in the UK.

In changing perceptions around the sport, they hope to inspire younger people to play the sport and demonstrate how accessible, affordable, social and competitive bowls can be.

As part of this they will push new partnerships with local schools, youth groups and colleges, run junior coaching programmes and develop a new youth academy.

There will also be a ‘Try Bowls’ Open Day and Bowls Festivals taking place.

The competition is also part of a series of high-profile events that will take place at Desborough Bowls Club in 2025/26, with the EIBA Para Bows vs President’s Team game demonstrating the club’s disability friendly facilities while England’s Commonwealth Games squad set to use the Maidenhead facilities in preparation for their major events in 2026.