Pitschou four score notable win over Irish
AS GUERNSEY'S bowlers put up a decent show against the best of British at Hougue du Pommier, two men who would surely have strengthened their hand were in Wellingborough, trying to qualify for the WBT Professional Pairs championship.
AS GUERNSEY'S bowlers put up a decent show against the best of British at Hougue du Pommier, two men who would surely have strengthened their hand were in Wellingborough, trying to qualify for the WBT Professional Pairs championship. Neal Mollet and WIBC world indoor singles champion Nicky Donaldson, who came through the recent pre-qualifiers in Bournemouth, were thought to be in with a good chance of clinching a place in the world event, which will be staged at Potters Leisure Resort in Norfolk in January.
But, after a tough quarter-final, they had to give best to Kentish duo Bradley Drake and Shaun McCaughan, who won in straight sets, 7-4, 7-6.
The England pair settled first, scoring seven shots without reply over the first five ends, leaving the Guernsey pair with a mountain to climb over the last two ends - a treble and single merely making the score more respectable at 7-4.
In the second set, which Mollet and Donaldson had to win, a Guernsey treble on the second end was a welcome boost and a double on the fifth put them just one shot adrift at 5-6.
Dropping a single on the penultimate end, the Channel Islanders needed to score three shots on the last end to take the Kent duo into a tie-break, but had to settle for a single, and a closely-fought straight sets defeat.
Back at the Hougue du Pommier stadium, Guernsey at least fared better than Jersey against the talented visitors.
The home team scored a respectable 62 points to Britain's 94 the day after Jersey had gone down 106-51.
The highlight for the Sarnians was the Gary Pitschou skipped team's win over Ireland as the other Sarnian fours lost to England, Scotland and Wales.
'It was excellent, especially after last year when we didn't win a rink,' said Guernsey manager Steve Bichard.
'A couple of the other rinks got close, but overall it was very satisfying. You can't single anyone out, it was a good team effort.'
Guernsey gave a debut to Michael Le Noury, John Wallis and Sean Bichard and all three performed well.
The match also brought lawn bowls specialist Pitschou back into the frame to replace the unavailable Paul Merrien as skipper of the team of Dave Lock, Steve Le Noury and Daniel de La Mare.
Soon into their match with Ireland they found themselves 8-1 down, but they knuckled down to level things. By the close of the last end they had managed to steal a 19-16 victory.
'It was very good and everyone bowled well,' said Pitschou.
Guernsey also nearly caused an upset when they played Wales. The team of Paul Ingrouille, Terry Boreham, Kris Bichard and former football Muratti captain Chris Dyer just lost out 19-14 after 21 ends.
'We had a chance for three to draw on the last end but we missed out,' said Ingrouille.
'You're never disappointed to lose if you can compete with teams of this level. That's what we hoped to do.
'If you can sneak a win, then very good.'
The first match to finish was between England and the Guernsey side of Craig Dorey, Richard Hill, Sean Bichard and Darren Setters. The English came away with a 34-13 win.
Scotland also got the better of Ian Merrien, John Wills, Michael Le Noury and Matt Le Ber, with the score 25-16.
Neil Speirs, who is the current world indoor singles champion, led the strong Scotland outfit.
'They were tough opposition,' said Merrien.
'We let them get away but we did match them at times. A few heads here and there where we dropped three gave them a comfort zone.'
