Three wins from four down under

JET-SETTING bowlers Alison Merrien and Gary Pitschou, on the trail of world titles, have made an excellent start to the campaign in the world outdoor champion of champions singles at the Warilla club in New South Wales. Merrien, who lost in the final of the inaugural event in Moama last year, is determined to go one better this time around and is full of confidence after her historic win in the Heritage International Classic in the Irish Republic last month.

Yesterday, she opened with a fantastic 14-1, 12-2 win over luckless Moata Nadu from Papua New Guinea, before coming face to face with Ireland's Margaret Johnston, who retained her world outdoor singles title in Leamington in September.

Although she lost the first set, Merrien recovered her poise to win the second at a canter and played some aggressive bowls in the tiebreak.

Killing the second tiebreak end to keep herself in the hunt, she took the shot on the next end to force Johnston into a sudden death decider and was holding shot right up until the very last bowl of the end.

Taking a leaf out of the Channel Islander's book, Johnston drove the jack into the ditch to take the shot that gave her a dramatic 8-6, 5-10, 2-1 victory.

The match was not a classic, because accurate bowling was made difficult by a strong gusting wind that swept across the green, but it was exciting and worthy of a final.

Defeat will not worry Merrien much, as four players from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals at the end of next week - so she is still very much in the frame for the knockout stage.

Gary Pitschou was not only in good form, but he had a little assistance from Lady Luck, who allowed him to lose a set in each of his two matches and still get through on the now familiar tiebreaks.

His 6-4, 1-10, 2-1 scorecard against the Malaysian Syed Mohammed was a case in point, while his 1-8, 8-6, 2-0 win over Kiwi Alex Forsyth showed how anything can happen in a tiebreak.