England Cap Bell For European Boys Team Championships

England hope it will be green for go when they field just one new cap in the European Boys Team Championships being held at the Amber Baltic Golf Club in Poland on 10-14 July.

The newcomer is Simon Bell (Northcliffe), while the other members of the six-strong side will be Scott Jackson (Bramall Park), Steven Lewton (Woburn), David Porter (Stoneham), Michael Skelton (Hunley Hall) and Daniel Wardrop (Didsbury).

Yorkshire's Bell, 17, steps up to a boy international after being capped at under-16 level against Italy and Scotland. The 2000 English Schools champion has finished third in the McGregor Trophy over the past two years and reached the quarter finals of last year's English Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham. He has been a member of the Boys School of Excellence squad for the past two years.

Jackson, 18, was capped against Scotland at under-16 level in 1999 and is a member of the Boys School of Excellence squad, he finished third in the McEvoy Trophy in April.

Lewton, 18, made his full international debut in last year's European Boys Team Championships in Holland and has finished runner-up in the McEvoy Trophy for the past two years.

Porter, 18, is by far the most experienced member of the team and has represented England at under-16 and boys levels since 1997. The Hampshire teenager has been a regular in the England Boys line-up, represented Great Britain and Ireland in last year's Jacques Leglise Trophy at Turnberry, while on a more personal front, he won the English Boys' Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship for the Carris Trophy in 1999. Two weeks ago he finished third in the Brabazon Trophy at Royal Birkdale.

Skelton, who turns 17 on 1 June, is also from Yorkshire and has been capped for the under 16s for the past two years. He earned his first boys cap in last year's Home Internationals at Portmarnock and was an England representative in the European Young Masters in Italy last July. Winner of the McGregor Trophy at Woodbury Park in Devon last summer, he finished fourth in this year's McEvoy Trophy.

Wardrop, 17, the current Cheshire Boys champion, also made his England debut in the 2000 Boys Home Internationals and is a member of the Boys School of Excellence squad.

Four of the line-up for Poland, Jackson, Lewton, Porter and Skelton, recently represented England in the World Boys Team Championships in Japan.

England will be seeking their eighth victory in the European Boys Team Championships since 1980. Their last success was two years ago at Uppsala in Sweden, while in 2000 the team finished fourth behind champions Scotland, Ireland and France.

The complete team is:

Simon Bell (Northcliffe)
Scott Jackson (Bramall Park)
Steven Lewton (Woburn)
David Porter (Stoneham)
Michael Skelton (Hunley Hall)
Daniel Wardrop (Didsbury)

Reserve: James Heath (Coombe Wood)