Sarnians still in the hunt

THE Merrien Mafia were out in force at the Belmont bowls club in Belfast at the weekend, when Guernsey players stayed in the hunt for two British Isles titles. Bowls Guernsey president Ian Merrien - a good player in his own right - looked on proudly, with his wife Alison on his arm, as his brothers Paul and Alan and dad Mike clinched a place in the triples semi-finals.

The young pair of Daniel de la Mare and Matt Le Ber, did even better, disposing of the host country's challenge in the pairs, 20-16, then storming to an extremely satisfying 19-10 win over Jersey's Bill Bowman and Gus McKinnon.

'We beat Daniel and Matt in the Channel Islands final last September, but this was different,' said Scots-born McKinnon. 'We have no complaints - Matt was unbelievable - he just would not let us keep any shots.'

The Le Quesne-style inter-insular challenge saw Guernsey take a 6-0 lead after three ends and they never loosened their grip, powering into a 17-7 lead by the 17th end, before the Jersey duo shook hands with one end left to play.

In tomorrow's final, de la Mare and Le Ber will face Scotland's George Sneddon and Keith Tait.

'It just goes to show how well Guernsey's bowlers can do against the best in Britain, and, by extension, the best in the world,' said Bowls Guernsey chief executive Garry Collins.

'We hope that the achievements recorded here will be taken into consideration when decisions are made about how many of our bowlers will go to Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games.'

The Merriens clicked from the start against Jersey champions Steve Hind, John Lowery and Allan Quemard, opening with two fives and adding another on the eighth end to stand at 22-8 after only nine.

Relaxing a little over the last few ends, they returned a 26-16 scorecard and were lined up to take on the England champions, skipped by the in-form Mark Walton, in today's semi-finals.

Collins put up a good show against Scotland's Stuart Babbington in the under-25 singles semi-final, but lost 21-14.

Guernsey quartet Len Le Ber, Nigel Collins, Matt Le Ber and Dave Trebert were outplayed by a Jersey four skipped by Lee Nixon and failed to make it through to the semi-finals.

But Gary Pitschou put up another fighting display in the singles, beating Welsh champion Richard Morgan, 21-5, in the quarter-final to set up a semi-final which was a repeat of last year's final.

Facing the defending champion, Martin McHugh from the host country, Pitschou was set back on his heels when his opponent opened with a four, a double and a treble to lead 9-0 after three ends.

However, the feisty Sarnian stuck to his task and looked in with a chance when he scored a full house on the 18th end to trail, 13-20. But the Irishman redoubled his efforts and clinched a final place with single on the next end.