Guernsey Press

Impressive treble for de la Mare

GWEN DE LA MARE chalked up a hat-trick of victories against Ireland.

Published

GWEN DE LA MARE chalked up a hat-trick of victories against Ireland. Playing the triples with Lianna Bichard - the girlfriend of her son, Dan - and Bichard's grandmother, Mavis Richards, the Guernsey trio led from the start. They were 7-0 up after four ends only for the Irish, skipped by Ireland international Jennifer Dowds, to pull back to 9-8 after 12 ends.

The Sarnians put together some super bowls to take the next three ends with a three, a two and a single.

De la Mare was then joined by Dan, the skip, for the pairs and produced some top-class bowls.

After dropping the first two ends, they pulled back to lead 5-3 after five. That became eight-all after 10 following some close measures. But the de la Mares powered through and won 12 shots over the last nine ends to Ireland's eight to make the final score 20-16.

After two great games, de la Mare added a third in the singles, easily disposing of Davina Knocker 21-3 over 18 ends.

The other all-woman triple - Shirley Petit, Margery Yates and Angela Bartie - were denied their win. After trailing 8-20 after 12 ends, they scored heavily only to lose 19-22 after the umpire was called to adjudicate and measured the wrong bowls. That prevented the women from going to a final end and possibly earning a win.

The two men's triples had great difficulty against the cream of the Ireland internationals and lost, Merrien's 6-18 and Dorey's 5-19.

Merrien's triples produced the goods till halfway - five-all after nine ends - but the experienced Ireland skip, Brendan Thompson, made his last bowls count.

Richard Hill and Bartie had an excellent win in the pairs, scoring on 13 ends out of 20. Their match finished early because Ireland could not catch them - a 20-13 victory.

Garry Collins, Guernsey manager, was satisfied with his team's effort.

'The event was excellent. Not all the results went Guernsey's way, but what's the point in playing top international players if you are just after a win?' he said.

'This trip was about gaining experience, in a friendly match, on an away green, with their home crowds backing them.

'We will be back and put what we have learned into practice next time. Last year the men drew their test at home and three years ago the women won their test at home. This was a combined team effort.'

He said that Guernsey were at a disadvantage, as opponents often have more experience on a variety of surfaces.

'The team has been practising together for the past few months, but the problem with having one green in Guernsey is that we cannot adapt to different surfaces more quickly than the other internationals who play on a different rink nearly every day. Overall, a ?very well done? goes to our women. For the men, it was a good effort: we were out-bowled, but not out-classed. We will get them next time.'

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