Pamela Pretswell ends Scotland's 19-year Miller Trophy wait

An afternoon of steady rain at Whitchurch in Cardiff could not dampen the spirit and fire in skipper Lesley Nicholson's squad as they beat Ireland 5-4 to claim the Miller Trophy.

The afternoon singles between the two teams with 100 per cent records at the start of the day produced some great golf and certainly great excitement in the Scottish ranks.

"It's a great feeling to be taking the title back to Scotland," said team captain Lesley Nicholson. "It went right down to the wire and my players were great."

The triumph followed on from a bronze medal-winning performance in the European Championship earlier in the year as well as Scotland's capture of the European Senior Women's Amateur Team title in Berlin last weekend.

Yesterday, the Scots took a 2-1 lead from the morning foursomes and shared the singles 3-3.

The fifth and winning point for Scotland was delivered by Pamela Pretswell, who beat Curtis Cup team-mate Leona Maguire with a birdie at the last hole.

The Glasgow University student won five out of six games. Winner of the British Stroke-play title, also in Wales two or three weeks ago, the Hamilton-based player is playing the finest golf of her life.

Ireland cancelled out Scotland's one-point lunchtime lead when Danielle McVeigh beat Jane Turner by 6 and 5.

Scotland edged ahead 3-2 with a two-hole win by Kelsey MacDonald over Mary Dowling in a battle of the Scottish and Irish champions. All square after 15 holes, MacDonald won the 16th with a par-4, halved the 17th and birdied the 18th for a two-hole win.

Louise Kenney increased Scotland's overall advantage to 4-2 when she beat Sinead O'Sullivan by 3 and 2 but Ireland won a third point through Charlene Reid, who beat Megan Briggs by 3 and 1. But Scotland got the title-winning fifth point when Pretswell beat Maguire by one hole, thanks to a pitch-and-putt birdie-4 at the long 18th.