By Neil Pattinson

After weeks of training and hard matches, Windscale's Linda Winder finally made her first appearance for England O-40s in the home international series of matches down in Nottingham.

Supported by husband Mark and a few club members who made the long trip, Linda's first game against the Irish No.4 A.Costello was a nervy affair as Linda failed to cope with the occasion in the first game losing 9-7.  Realising that she could compete against the Irish girl the nerves were banished as she powered her opponent off court in the next 3 games 9-1, 9-1, 9-1.

This victory helped the English team to a 4-1 team win over the Irish ladies. Next morning nothing could stop a confident Linda in her tracks as she was up against Scotland No.4 Moira Atkinson. Her opponent, despite a good array of shots and deceptions, did not get a look in as Linda romped to a 9-0, 9-3, 9-2 victory with a great mix of aggression, pace and touch, to help England to defeat Scotland 4-1.

The afternoon session was slightly disappointing for Linda, as she had to sit out the final game against Wales, to give one of the travelling reserves a run out as England completed their 3^rd straight win of the weekend, with a 5-0 win against probably the weakest of the 4 nations.

2 wins from 2 games was a fantastic return for Linda in her very first season of Masters Squash against other ladies who have much more experience in this type of environment. "Roll on next season", was one of her first thoughts on returning back to the club having done herself and the Windscale club proud.