History-makers lift British title

GUERNSEY'S young guns Daniel de la Mare and Matt Le Ber wrote themselves into the bowls history books in Belfast yesterday, defeating Scotland's George Sneddon and Keith Tait 30-19 in the final of the British Isles outdoor pairs championship. Not only are they the first Guernsey players to win a British outdoor title, they are also the youngest pair to lift the Tom Yeoman Trophy since the event was introduced in 1959.

The dynamic duo once again firmly kicked into touch the persistent but misguided notion that bowls is a pastime for the elderly.

De la Mare, an IT technician, is only 19, while Le Ber, an accountant, is a year older.

'It feels great being a British champion,' said de la Mare. 'It was a tough final in which we were behind early on, but we both played well to take the lead by the halfway stage.

'When the rain came on I went off a bit, but Matt got better and better and after I sorted my delivery out to cope with the conditions, we finished really strongly as a pair,' he added.

'The green obviously slowed a great deal due to the rain and I was having trouble getting my bowls away,' de la Mare explained. 'I had to invent a sort of scoop delivery and that worked a treat.'

Dropping five on the second end failed to dent the Guernsey duo's enthusiasm and they hit back to score two fours on successive ends. They looked the likely winners as early as nine ends when they led 14-6.

But the Scots enjoyed a profitable mid-game spell in the rain, scoring 12 shots to Guernsey's three in seven ends and had turned the tables when they led 18-17 with only five ends left to play.

Hitting back, the Guernsey pair regained the lead at 19-18 with a double on the 17th, took control with a five on the very next end and went into the last end with a healthy cushion of six shots at 25-19.

They had to show patience as Tait, the Scottish skip, killed the last end twice, but on the second replay,

Tait's aggression was off-target and Guernsey chalked up another count of five to win 30-19.

And how did Le Ber feel after their great victory?

'Wet,' he said, after he had played throughout without a wet-suit and before he was carted off to undergo a UK Sport random drug test.

Even after successfully producing what the drugs people required, he was still seen walking around in his sodden Guernsey shirt, but his broad smile told the real truth about his feelings.

Guernsey's supporters are convinced that the two youngsters have now done enough to guarantee their places in the Common-wealth Games team for Melbourne next March.

'They are worthy champions,' commented Guern-sey's fours skip Dave Trebert.

'They combined so well and turned in three brilliant performances on their way to the title.

'As British champions they must be in line for the Games team.'

Ian Merrien, president of Bowls Guernsey added: 'I'm proud of them. It just shows that we can take on the best in what was effectively a champion of champion s event and come out on top.'

And Garry Collins, the Bowls Guernsey chief executive, chipped in: 'It's up to us, the officers of the association, to make sure that we deserve and maintain a high profile in the world of bowls.'

De la Mare responded: ?It's really nice to hear them say all that - Matt and I are both very keen to go to Australia and this latest success certainly can't have done our chances any harm.'