Top two lead charge to the CI finals

NICK DONALDSON and Alison Merrien confirmed their status as Guernsey's top indoor singles players with victories in the respective men's and women's singles finals. Donaldson came out on top of a good contest with Daniel de la Mare by 21 shots to 10 and Merrien beat Lianna Bichard 21-13 after a spirited comeback by the teenager.

Donaldson and de la Mare exchanged singles over the opening four ends of their men's singles encounter and then the former won four consecutive ends to lead 10-3 after 10.

The match saw both players drawing well and resorting to weighted bowls when in trouble, with de la Mare continuing to develop his high power drives and Donaldson persevering with his equally effective more controlled running bowls.

A fascinating match continued over five more ends, with Donaldson continuing to have the edge when it mattered to come out as the winner and claim his place in the Channel Islands Championships and World Indoor Bowls Council men's singles.

Bichard has matured into a good all-round player this season and plays all the shots very confidently having demonstrated very effective use of the strong arm tactics in her semi-final encounter with Carol Ingrouille.

Merrien must be ranked as one of the top two or three women players in the world and she started this enthralling women's singles contest in that manner, establishing a 16-6 lead.

However, Bichard found her feet and by shortening the jack, began to draw closer than Merrien and crept up the board with three consecutive doubles to make the score 16-12.

Bichard held a good three on the 19th end with each counting bowl one behind the other. However, Merrien demolished this head with a scorching drive and thereafter gained the upper hand and although Bichard kept nibbling away, the world mixed pairs champion was just too strong for her and clinched victory with an eight-shot margin at 21-13.

Donaldson then teamed up with Neal Mollet, Mick Setters and Dennis Mollet as the Chancers to beat Ricky Brehaut's PSV team of Malcolm Timms, Steve Bichard and Kris Bichard in a very competitive men's fours final which lasted more than four hours.

The formbook would have suggested that Chancers were favourites to win, but nothing was given away by either side and after 17 ends, the Chancers just held the lead at 14-12.

PSV were giving a very good account of themselves and Kris Bichard's yellow bowls were frequently shadowing the jack, ably supported by father Steve and Timms, with skipper Brehaut producing many telling bowls.

However, the 18th end saw the Chancers pick up two valuable shots before dropping a single and then collecting two singles themselves to come out as winners by 18 shots to 13.

The women's fours saw Wilma Le Feuvre turn in an excellent display in skipping her Minnows rink of Gwen de la Mare, Shirley Petit and Sally Paul to victory over Angela Bartie's of Anna Brehaut, Mavis Richards and Carol Ingrouille, playing as Jesters, by 22 shots to 18.

Bartie's rink had performed superbly in the semi-finals to beat Merrien's team, but could not find the same form again in the final. Minnows established a 10-shot lead at 18 ends and despite an excellent count of four on the next Jesters could manage only two singles and with Le Feuvre playing inspired bowls victory was secured for her team.

The women's triples saw Merrien in action again, skipping Paula and Lianna Bichard in their match with the Teazers team of de la Mare, Petit and Ingrouille.

Ingrouille came in as a later replacement for Eunice Trebert who was unable to play through illness and helped steer de la Mare and Petit to victory over Merrien's Allycats trio.

Teazers led by five shots after 16 of the 18 ends, largely thanks to a six picked up on the 13th.

They then managed to limit Allycats to a single and a double to finish 20-18 ahead.

The men's triples was a quite remarkable game involving the Likely Lads (Terry Boreham, Paul Ingrouille and Ian Merrien) and Mafia (Mick Merrien, Daniel de la Mare and Paul Merrien).

In a match that neither side will ever forget, Mafia scored 22 shots before Likely Lads scored a single one.

Inspired play by Mick Merrien at lead, backed up by de la Mare's positional bowls and Paul Merrien's great touch, ensured that Ian Merrien was forced into playing an attacking game almost every end.

Despite great accuracy from Ian Merrien in hitting the target on almost every occasion, fortune did not favour the Likely Lads who conceded with four ends to play with a score of 24-2 on the board.

The Le Noury brothers, Steve and Michael, showed the form which they have been in all season to put new names on the men's pairs trophy with a fine victory over Steve Desperques and Gary Pitschou.

The Le Nourys made a great start to set up the victory, establishing a 24-10 lead, but Pitschou hit a purple patch in the last quarter of the game and picked up a four and a five on consecutive ends to pile on the pressure.

But the brothers held their nerve to come out deservedly as winners by 25 shots to 21.

Alison Merrien and Lianna Bichard teamed up to win the women's pairs against Angela Bartie and Jan Lawrence.

Bartie had reached a rich vein of form in recent weeks and with partner Lawrence also playing well in recent games, a mouth watering fixture was promised.

However, Merrien and Bichard dominated the scoring over the first few ends and gradually built a lead of 20 shots to seven after 17 ends, before running out as winners by 22 to 11.

The Family Mixed Pairs saw Tony Yates and daughter Victoria Marquis facing the mother-and-son combination of Olwen and Paul Ingrouille. Victoria and Olwen enjoyed a good battle at lead, belying the age difference of nearly 60 years and Tony and Paul enjoyed a similar scrap as skips with Paul eventually having the edge to enable the Ingrouilles to come out on top by 26 to nine.

Garry Collins and Daniel de la Mare met in the final of the men's under-25 singles and this was an enthralling match featuring two players who, while drawing well, produced inch-perfect bowls and when in trouble produced devastatingly powerful drives.

Marker Paul Ingrouille had to be on his toes to protect the game next door from the debris as, end after end, bowls were ejected from the rink at a rate of knots.

Collins held the early sway, drawing well, but de la Mare came back and established what looked to be a match-winning position when collecting a four on the 17th end when Collins' fire power let him down and the score moved to 20-12.

However, a cheeky attempt to ditch the jack on the next end proved costly for the youngster as Collins used the same tactics to stage a fine comeback and level the scores at 20-20 after 22 ends.

An exciting last end saw Collins hold sway before yet another de la Mare strike removed the shot bowl.

Collins was a whisker away from drawing the winning shot but it was not close enough and de la Mare held on.

The Consolation Singles saw Tish Duquemin lose 11-21 to John Wallis and in the handicap pairs, Stan Simon and Gwen de la Mare lost 16-25 to Barbara Martel and Norman Gavey.

The winners of the men's and women's singles, pairs, triples and fours and under-25 singles now go on to face their Jersey counterparts in the CI finals at Grainville over the weekend of 8 and 9 January.

Places in the British Isles Championships await the CI winners.