Simon clinches CI thriller

ANNE SIMON clinched the Channel Islands women's singles title after a 22-end tussle against Jersey's Karina Bisson. But the news was not so good for Guernsey men's champion Geoff Savident.

He lost in a dramatic finish to Alan Shaw.

After a tight opening, Simon had moved into a comfortable 9-3 lead.

Bisson pulled back to within one before the Guernseywoman scored on the next five ends to wrap up the game 21-11.

In the men's match Savident dropped one shot on the first end, but then led all the way to 19-14, two shots away from the trophy.

It looked even rosier for the Sarnian when, on the penultimate end, Savident held two for game.

But Shaw trailed the jack to make a score of three and on the next again overturned a shot deficit and trailed the jack to his awaiting bowls behind to sneak the match.

Another good game to watch was the women's pairs featuring Guernsey's Pat Le Cheminant and Mavis Tardif against the experienced Sue Dingle and Gaynor Thomas.

The Guernsey combination held their own up until the 15th end at which point they dropped a six to fall behind by eight with just three ends left to play. They collected a one and a two to give themselves a fighting chance on the last end, but the Jersey pair notched a single to win 19-13.

The men's pairs saw a similar game to the women's, staying close until near the end when Jersey's Steve Hind and Peter Le Long put together a one-two-one run to lead by six with two ends to play.

Gary Pitschou and Dave Lucas managed to hit back with a couple of twos but it was not enough and they went down 13-15.

Jersey's domination continued in the triples.

Jackie Nicolle, Wilma Le Feuvre and Pauline Leadbeater went down 12-22 to Karina Bisson, Gean O'Neil and Carole Allen, while in the men's match Pitschou, Len Le Ber and Lucas let slip a 6-1 lead to lose 11-22 to Thomas Greechan, Jamie MacDonald and Simon Brown.

The fours trophies were shared between the islands.

Guernsey champions Anne Simon, Eunice Trebert, Wilma Le Feuvre and Jean Simon took control from the start, collecting a five on the first end, another on the fifth and a six on the next.

Guernsey were sitting comfortably 23-11 up after 13 ends before a blip saw them concede nine over three ends, resulting in just a three-shot gap with two ends remaining.

But Guernsey regained their composure to win both the last two to finish 26-20 up.

Paul Merrien's team of Ralph Deakin, Roy Queripel and Sid Le Maitre lost by a narrow margin to a four skipped by Richard Allen, but there was better news for the Merrien family from the mixed pairs showdown.

The husband-and-wife combination of Ian and Alison retained their title by defeating Tim Murphy and Jean Cooper 24-8.

Peggy Fish could not quite pull off a women's over-60s and over-70s singles double.

She won the older section against Roselyn Mauger, but lost the over-60s to Jean Small.

In the men's over-60s Ralph Deakin was beaten by Jersey's Tim Knight.

At the other end of the age scale Matt Le Ber was robbed of the men's under-25 CI title.

With the score 19-19 after 27 ends Le Ber held game when Jamie MacDonald clipped a side bowl to move the jack for one and saved the match.

The Jerseyman collected one on the last to win 21-19.

In the women's drawn fours, Guernsey's Sally Paul, Lyn Small, Iris Rowe and Mickie Fletcher controlled the game from start to finish and won

23-7.