TWO NEW CAPS IN ENGLAND HOME INTERNATIONALS SIDE

England will field two new caps as they bid for a seventh successive Home Internationals triumph later this month.

Former boys captain David Griffiths (West Herts) and Brabazon Trophy winner Mark Side (Shirley Park) are the newcomers in the formidable lineup for the annual contest at Royal County Down on 22-24 September.

The rest of the side that will seek to extend England's domination of the event is Simon Dyson, Max Harris, Ben Mason, Chris Rodgers, Mark Sanders, Graeme Storm, Aran Wainwright, John Wells and Gary Wolstenholme. The captain is Malcolm Lewis.

GRiffiths, 19, has enjoyed a highly successful career in boys golf and now steps up to senior level, while Side, 23, topped off a triumphant 1999 with his Brabazon victory at Moortown in May.

Amateur Champion, Storm, 21, who was capped for the first time at senior level against France last year but missed the Home Internationals as well as the clash with Spain last May, earns a recall at the scene of his Amateur Championships triumph in June. The man he beat at Royal County Down, Yorkshire's Aran Wainwright, is also recalled, having made his last England appearance in France last year.

Fellow Yorkshireman Dyson, 21, has played in every England team since earning his first cap in that same French match and has also enjoyed a highly successful season, finishing lead qualifier in the Amateur Championship and runner-up in the English Amateur at St Mellion.

Dyson, his Sand Moor club mate Mason, Harris, Sanders and Wolstenholme all played in last year's Home Internationals at Royal Porthcawl when England completed a record sixth successive victory.

Rodgers, 23, and Wells, 21, keep their places after making their England debuts against Spain at Walton Heath last May, as does Sanders, 25, the 1998 English Champion, who hasn't had the best of seasons after losing a play-off to Wolstenholme for the Berkhamstead Trophy in April.

There are notable omissions from the side. English champion Paul Casey, Luke Donald and Philip Rowe, all members of the Walker Cup team, are at college in the United States and unavailable but Harris if flying back from college in North Carolina to take his place at Royal County Down.

Wolstenholme, who has just turned 39, began his international career over 11 years ago and played his 100th England match in last year's Home Internationals. Currently the Leicestershire man has made 112 appearances and lies third in the all-time England records behind Peter McEvoy with 153 and Michael Bonallack 131.

The average age of this years team is 23, the same as in 1998. Only Wolstenholm is over 30, while Griffiths is the lone teenager.