Sarnian duo earn semi-final chance

ALISON MERRIEN and Neal Mollett clinched a place in the 2004 World Indoor Bowls Council mixed pairs semi-finals yesterday in Belfast. Having eased past the English champions Alice McPherson and Greg Moon 8-5, 8-3, in the first round, the Guernsey duo walloped the defending champions, Julie Forrest and Mark Johnston, from Scotland, in the quarter-finals.

'I enjoyed that,' said Merrien, who won the World Indoor Bowls Council mixed pairs title with Adrian Welch in 2001. 'Last time we played Julie and Mark was in the final two years ago, when they beat us - so it was a case of sweet revenge.'

The Scottish pair opened with a double, but were not allowed to score again in the first set, as Merrien and Mollett compiled a brilliant 1-1-1-1-2-2-3 sequence and the talented Channel Islanders were 7-2 ahead in the second set after five ends on their way to a 11-2, 10-3 triumph.

'They bowled far better than we did and we have no complaints,' said Forrest. 'Today was a real nightmare for me. First I lost to Jersey's Alison Birch in the singles and now this - what a hammering.'

Merrien, who led for Welch in 2001 and 2002, took her turn at skip on this occasion and proved once again that she can mix it with the men, because she can play all the shots in the book.

Those two victories in the pairs compensated for Merrien's unexpected straight sets defeat in the women's singles, where she was beaten 10-5, 6-5, by 20-year-old

Welsh sensation, Hannah Lyons.

After the game, Lyons revealed that she has recently changed her name to Evans, after getting married two weeks ago.

Her husband, who is in the Army, left for Iraq last week, so playing bowls helps her to keep her mind off his absence.

Merrien, of course, can still qualify for the knockout stage, because the first three matches are played on a round-robin basis, but she desperately needs to win her next two games against Norhashimah Ismail, from Malaysia, and England's Theresa Darnell-Langton.

Mollett launched his bid to win the men's singles title in confident style, beating John Alderson, from the Isle of Man 10-1, 12-2, and now has to take on John Roberts, from Wales, and Malaysia's Zuraidi Puteh.

Tomorrow morning, in the semi-finals of the mixed pairs, Mollett

and Merrien face the Australian men's and women's singles champions, Steve Glasson and Diana Cunnington.