Bichard-Merrien through to British final

GUERNSEY duo Lianna Bichard and Alison Merrien are setting the greens alight in Prestwick, where they have reached the final of the British Isles women's indoor pairs championship. And Lianna, just 19, is setting the organisers a bit of a problem, because she is also competing in the under-25 singles event, the semi-finals of which have been delayed until this morning.

Bichard and Merrien opened with a fascinating quarter-final against two Cambridgeshire based players, who have 16 grandchildren between them - namely England champions Janet Douglas and Pat Stanley from the Chesterton club.

Skip Stanley, who will be 65 next month, defies convention in what is essentially a conservative sport with her bright red hair and bright yellow bowls and she often arrives at matches on her motor-bike.

Despite the age difference, the Guernsey pair are far more experienced at this level and they surged into a 10-0 lead after four ends and were 20-10 in front after 15.

An English recovery was only to be expected and when Douglas and Stanley began to show the form that took them to the England title at Nottingham two weeks ago, they closed to 24-16 with one end left to play.

But a timely double saw the Guernsey duo home, 26-16.

Standing between the Guernsey duo and a place in the final were Scotland's Rosie Wood and Frances Paterson who had a lot of local support.

But the Channel Islands champions again set off with confidence to lead 11-0 after six ends and a five on the 10th end saw them 17-3 in front, before they cruised to a 22-13 victory.

In today's final, they meet the Welsh champions Jealian Willis and Wendy Morris from Swansea, but involvement in the pairs meant that Bichard's junior singles semi-final had to be postponed.

She now looks forward to meeting Ireland's Catherine Beattie today for a place in her second final of the weekend.

In the fours, Wilma Le Feuvre's Guernsey quartet came up against the England champions from the City of Ely club, three of whose players are current internationals and whose skip, Ellen Falkner, won the World Bowls Tour women's matchplay singles title at Potters at the start of the year.

Allowed to score on only four ends, Gwen de la Mare, Shirley Petit, Sally Paul and Le Feuvre sank to a 31-7 defeat, but it was no disgrace to lose to the team who are hotly-tipped to take the title.