Nothing between teams as tournaments hot up

THE second round of the islandwide Smithard Veterans bowls competition produced three of the closest finishes possible. Reg Leadbeater defeated Charlie Browning 21 shots to 20 and there were identical wins for Ricky Nash against Don Batiste and Ivor Perry over Mike Rose.

In contrast, the quarter-finals of the Sandeman Fours saw a comfortable win for Phoenix against Stan Simon's Sarnians.

Brats went down by three shots against Falcons; however, in the other two quarter-finals the matches were decided by one shot.

Police, the defending champions, defeated Vale A 19-18, scoring the decisive shot on the last end.

After 18 ends, Vale A led 18-14, but counts of one, three and one on the last three saw the Police sneak a place in the semi-finals.

Vic Dorey, skip of Vale A, was unlucky with his last two bowls when trying to remove the lying shot bowl of the Police four.

There was even more drama in the final quarter-final round match between Locals and Geomarine.

With the scores tied at 18 shots each after 21 ends, an extra end had to be played to decide the tie.

Only then did Dave Lucas' team, Locals, secure the vital shot over Ricky Brehaut's Geomarine to progress to the last four.

There were no close finishes in the Tostevin Triples, however there will be a new team name engraved on the trophy.

Champions Geomarine, skipped by Brehaut, were out-bowled by Roy Queripel's Brats to such an extent that the match was conceded before the completion of 18 ends.

A good result was also achieved by Locals against Bernie Simon's Phoenix trio.

In the Travers Pairs, Sid Le Maitre and Roy Queripel completely out-bowled the pairing of Dan de la Mare and Ian Merrien.

There was also a comfortable win for the pairing of Dave Lucas and Gary Pitschou over Len Le Ber and Dave Trebert.

The Elliot Singles produced a one-shot win for Bernie Simon over Ricky Nash and Stan Simon continued his run of good form with a victory against Trebert.

In the Le Ber father-and-son battle, Matt defeated dad Len, while Gary Pitschou continued his defence of the island championship with a convincing win over Mac Timms.

In the Press Singles, Merrien began the defence of his title with a win over Craig Dorey.

There was also a close victory for Mat Le Ber over Dan Le Cheminant by one shot.

The majority of the semi-finals will take place at Beau Sejour on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August.

The exceptions are those matches involving the players who will taking part in the EBA Centenary Championships.

These matches will be played at the Beau Sejour green on their return and during the last four days before the finals.