Collins falls to Aussie

Garry Collins, Guern-sey's 24-year-old bowls star, found the going tough in the Equity Trust world under 25 singles championship at the Grainville stadium in Jersey, but will surely have learnt a lot from the experience. Drawn in perhaps the toughest group, Collins faced Irish junior champion Neil Mulholland in his opening match and looked comfortable after four ends of the first set, when he led 3-2.

Two doubles and a single gave the young Irishman the set, boosting his confidence, and he ran away with the second set after scoring a full house of four on the second end, winning, 7-3, 11-2.

After a good night's sleep, Collins came out fighting yesterday morning, but knew he was in for a hard time against the defending champion, Mark Casey, who is ranked number two in Australia, behind Steve Glasson.

The plucky Channel Islander tried his hardest, but it was Casey all the way, as the 21-year-old Aussie, who is employed as bowls manager at his club in Queensland, opened up a 10-0 lead in both sets.

Collins scored a consolation double and single in the first set, and a single on the seventh end of the second, but the 10-3, 10-1 scorecard probably reflected Casey's superiority.

Those two defeats put Collins out of the running for a place in the knockout stage, which gets under way today - and he was hoping for a consolation win over Scottish senior and junior champion Stuart Cruickshank in his final group match.

Earlier, the Scot had notched up a great win over Casey, so that the defending champion was all the more determined when he faced Collins, because he desperately needed points to keep him in the hunt.

When Jersey's Lindsey Greechan, making a bold attempt to retain her women's title, defeated Ireland's Catherine Beattie and England's Amy Monkhouse on Thursday, she clinched her place in the quarter finals.