Irish visually impaired bowlers to make history by competing in first Test series

Members of the Irish visually impaired bowls team, Lisa Royale and Liz Thompson, are presented with shirts before their first-ever Test match

Ten visually impaired bowlers from Ireland will make history this weekend by taking part in a Test match for the first time.

The squad of men and women, from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, will face England in Solihull on Friday and Saturday.

They will be coached by Commonwealth Games double gold medallist Ian McClure and Chris Mulholland.

Their aim is to have a team compete in the next Commonwealth Games.

"It's a great opportunity. It really all started with the fact that Northern Ireland is the only country from the UK that actually doesn't have representation at Commonwealth Games level," explained McClure.

"We have a plan in place as part of our Irish Bowls Federation strategy to try and upgrade grassroots disability bowls that also link that into high performance."

He added: "We have a number of Test matches scheduled this year. The first one, the inaugural one, is against England so we're really looking forward to that.

"We're taking a team of 10 across, an all-Ireland team, and it's a mixture of new participants to bowls as well as a few experienced hands as well.

"We have two disability hubs in place now, one in the Grove in Belfast, which is supported by Belfast City Council, and we're very grateful for their support. The other one is the Causeway Hub based out of Portrush Bowling Club and Ballybrakes Indoor Community Bowling Club in Ballymoney.

"Our objective over the next couple of years is to hopefully get a team ready for the next Commonwealth Games and World Championships.

"That will be our aspiration and it will be one team. It would be able bowlers and disabled bowlers together in one team going forward, but obviously there's a lot of work there to be done."