Merrien's full house of titles causes headaches

ALISON MERRIEN'S outstanding success over two days of the annual CI Bowls Championships has given her a headache ahead of the British Isles Championships in March. The problem is in how many competitions she can represent the Channel Islands, having won the singles, pairs, triples and fours at the Guernsey Bowls Stadium.

'We are seeking confirmation as we speak,' said the player yesterday.

'We are just waiting on the correct ruling before making a decision what I should play,' she added.

At this stage it is thought that Merrien can represent the area in the singles as well as one team event.

It is expected the likes of Lianna Bichard, 18, who was at Merrien's side in landing the pairs, triples and fours titles, will be only eligible to play in one team competition.

The same goes for Paula Bichard, Lianna' mother, a relative newcomer to the sport who found herself ending the weekend as a CI title-holder in triples and fours.

Merrien had no qualms about playing alongside Lianna, just 18, and her inexperienced mother.

'They're coming on well,' she said.

Merrien's toughest challenge of the weekend came in the singles, by which time she had already played three finals and was feeling the fatigue.

Her match against Jersey's Alison Birch lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours, with 26 ends being played.

Merrien built up a lead of 11-7 after 12 ends, with neither player having scored more than a two.

Although Merrien's game barely faltered, Birch found some impressive shots to reverse the situation including a three and a four to lead 19-14 at 22 ends.

The game looked up for Merrien.

But she dug in and responded with a full house and a single to level the score at 19-all.

On the 25th end it needed the umpire's measure to deny her the second shot she needed for victory but, facing a match lie against, she drew the single shot she needed to win 21-19.

Merrien's performance in skipping three women's teams to victory and winning her own singles championship was nearly matched by Nick Donaldson, who successfully skipped two men's teams and won his own singles match.

Donaldson was involved in an epic struggle against Jersey's Alan Quemard in the men's singles.

Quemard started well with a single and a two, but Donaldson responded with a two and four singles to lead 6-3 after seven ends and two more counts of two against a single gave him a lead of 10-4 after 10 ends.

Both players raised their game, with Quemard scoring four on the 14th and Donaldson replying with a three, edging into a lead of 16-13 by the 19th end and 18-14 by the 21st.

On the next end Donaldson held a match lie of four, only to see Quemard convert to score three and on the next he also held a winning count of three, only to see Quemard again convert to a single to level the score at 18-all.

On the next, Quemard was able only to cut down to a single on the 26th end Donaldson finally got the two he needed to win 21-18.

In the men's pairs Donaldson was joined by Neal Mollet, for another close match against Tommy Greechan and John Lowery.

Donaldson in particular, was drawing superbly and played some amazing conversion shots, while Greechan was having less success with his shots, with the Guernsey team moving into an 18-9 lead by 15 ends.

This proved too much of a task and although Guernsey scored only a further single, Jersey were unable to score significantly over the next six ends, such that Guernsey held on to win 19-16.

In the men's triples, Donaldson and Mollet were joined by Darren Setters, while Greechan played with Jamie Macdonald and Michael Cochrane.

This again proved to be a very close encounter between the skips, with Donaldson generally relying on drawing and controlled weight against Greechan's drawing and firing.

Guernsey started well, being 8-1 up after five ends, but Jersey levelled the score with a count of four to be eight-all by eight ends.

A two and one from Guernsey was countered by a four, two and one from Jersey to put them 15-11 up after 13 ends and with two ends to go, Jersey still had a two-shot advantage at 16-14.

Two singles from Guernsey levelled the score on the last end and forced an extra end to be played.

Jersey were lying just one shot ahead when their own player edged the jack a fraction of an inch to give the shot to Guernsey.

Donaldson kept well away and prayed. Greechan just failed to move the Guernsey bowl and the home team had won by just one shot.

The weekend had opened with the women's triples match between Merrien and the two Bichards against Brenda Foord and another mother-and-daughter combination, Gina Le Long and Lyndsey Greechan.

The Guernsey team opened up an early lead of 10-1 after six ends before Jersey were able to respond with two singles. Merrien turned the screw on the ninth end with a score of six and from then on Le Long was unable to respond, conceding the match at the 16th end with the score 23-7.

For the fours showdown the successful Guernsey triple were joined by Eunice Trebert and Jersey built up a lead of 6-3 after four ends.

But this was countered with a four from Guernsey and another four on the eighth end gave Guernsey a 12-7 lead, which widened to 16-10 by the 13th end.

Jersey staged a fightback and edged into a 17-16 lead with just two ends to go.

However, Merrien once again produced some superb shots to achieve a score of two and one to win the match 19-17.

Meanwhile there were two titanic struggles going on in the men's competition.

Dave Trebert, Matt Le Ber, Garry Collins and Craig Dorey, who had beaten Nick Donaldson's team in the Guernsey final of the men's fours, were playing Greechan, Lowery, Alan Shaw and Jamie Macdonald.

Guernsey led 14-7 by the 15th but some superb play by Jersey on the next saw six bowls close to the jack.

The Sarnian four were unable to dislodge any of them and before long it was 17-17 going into the last end in which Trebert was unable to beat Greechan's count of three to give Jersey the game 20-17.

In the men's under 25 singles, Guernsey's Daniel de la Mare had a return match against John Lowery, whom he had beaten convincingly in Jersey last year.

This time it was Lowery who was in excellent form, with de la Mare finding trouble with the pace of the green and losing 21-11.

Merrien and Lianna Bichard played Sue Dingle and J. Jones in the women's pairs and a five on the second end helped the Guernsey pair to an 11-1 lead after five ends.

Dingle struggled to match the inch-perfect play of Merrien and by the 12th end the score was 20-5.

The match eventually ended after 20 ends with the score at 28-13.

In the women's under-25s, Lianna Bichard built up an early 8-2 lead after six ends with some fine drawing against Lindsay Greechan, but the Jersey champion's experience, particularly with controlled weight, enabled her to level the game at 10-all over the next six ends.

It was 17-13 to Greechan after 17 ends and despite drawing shot to score two singles, Bichard was unable to stop Greechan scoring the four shots she needed over the next five ends to win 21-15.