OAKLEY teenage bowls star Nicole Rogers represented England in the Under-25 Home internationals in Islwyn,South Wales last weekend.

This completed a breakthrough 12 months on the international scene for the Loddon Vale IBC and Qakley BC youngster.

Last February, Rogers reached the semi-finals of the English Indoor Under-25 Ladies championships at only her second attempt.

A month later, the bowler was one of only two girls out of 16 participants to reach the finals of the English Mixed under-18, finishing joint sixth.

County and Club honours followed in April when Rogers successfully retained the Hampshire Ladies Senior Singles championship, along with reaching the final of the Mixed Pairs with 17-year old partner Ashley Nethercliffe.

The 18-year-old also held onto her club singles title she has held since 2013.

May saw the beginning of the outdoor season, however, Rogers had to delay moving outdoors to take part in the English Indoor Mixed under-18 trials where she was successful in being selected.

However, the big surprise for her was to come later in the same month when, in only her second year outdoors, she was selected for the England under-25 Ladies team to play in the Home Internationals in Bridgend, Wales, where England successfully retained their title.

The month of August was spent mostly at the National Championships finals at Royal Leamington Spa.

Here, the Oakley bowler reached the quarter finals of both the under-25 Ladies Singles and Pairs, with partner Heather Statham.

Her biggest achievement was to reach the final of the Mixed under-18 Singles after beating club partner Nethercliffe in the semi-final.

As a result of their success both players were selected to represent England in an under-18 International series against Wales, where once again England prevailed.

October saw the arrival of a packed indoor season. Firstly, Rogers just failed to make the televised stages of the World Championships at Potters in both the Ladies singles and mixed under-25 singles, losing in the final of both qualifiers. She was then part of the squad that retained the British Isles Mixed under-18 International series in Aberdeen, Scotland.

She also reached the finals of the English Youth Development scheme and was the only lady out of over 700 entrants to reach the finals of the semi-pro Open Single circuit. 2016 finished on a high when she represented England in the World under-25 Championships in Glasgow and was selected for the England in the under-25 Home internationals team, she played in last weekend.

After winning both her matches in Islwyn, the bowler looked back on her year and said: “My aim for the year was to be selected for one of the national teams, mainly the under-18 indoor team, but to make all four junior teams I trialled for both indoor and out was above my expectations.”