Merrien in final as Guernsey rules rinks

ALISON MERRIEN and Gary Pitschou gave spectators at the World Champion of Champions at Moama in New South Wales something to remember yesterday, when they notched up two more famous victories. Guernsey became the only country to have two representatives in the semi-finals and while the 40-year-old Pitschou stormed into the men's last four, Merrien, 29, clinched her place in today's final.

Merrien, who reached the semi-finals with a straight sets win over Canada's Clarice Fitzpatrick, toppled Betty Morgan, the British Isles singles champion and hot favourite for the women's title, 20-0, 2-10, 2-0.

Meanwhile, Pitschou spoilt the party for local supporters when he stopped the favourite for the men's title, Sam Laguzza, from Newcastle, near Sydney.

Merrien could not believe the ease with which she took the first set off Morgan and the incredible 20-0 scoreline after six ends must rank as a record at this level.

Opening with a treble, the Guernsey star scored a full house on the second end to lead 7-0, then added a two and a three, before completing her rout with two more maximum counts of four shots.

'I couldn't believe what was happening,' Merrien said last night.

'I was always waiting for Betty to strike form and true enough she did, giving me a lesson in the second set.'

She added: 'I had to dig deep to win the tie-break, and I was up against it when Betty started by drawing her first bowl to within six inches of the jack.

'But I managed to beat it and I'm delighted to have reached the final.'

The format here has come in for some hefty criticism, because under the traditional scoring system, when Merrien scored the first single of the second set she would have been declared a 21-0 winner.

Instead, Morgan was allowed to continue, winning the second set at a canter and could easily have reached the final by winning the best-of-three-ends tie-break.

Thankfully, Merrien prevailed to record a popular and well-deserved win.

In today's final Merrien will face veteran Swazilander Liz James, who was lucky to win the first set against Alicia Weir, a 33-year-old podiatrist from Belfast, but took control in the second to win 9-8, 8-4.

Pitschou was over the moon at his quarter-final victory over the Italian-born Laguzza, who is one of Australia's most consistent performers.

'Sam was favourite and I suppose I felt it was probably going to be my last match in the tournament,' said the Vale Rec member.

'With that in mind, I relaxed a bit and everything went right.'

The rugged 62-year-old Aussie fought back from 2-6 in the first set and looked the likely winner when he took the lead for the first time at 7-6 with a treble on the penultimate end.

A double from Pitschou enabled him to win the set 8-7 and he scored four singles and two doubles against two Laguzza singles in the second for an 8-7, 8-2 win that set him up for a semi-final crack at Namibia's Douw Calitz.