Donaldson leads from front to help Chancers to title

ISLANDERS could point at one reason or, more to the point, one player for being denied a third successive HSBC Bank plc Guernsey Open Fours tournament. Nick Donaldson proved the difference as Chancers pipped the defending champions to take the £1,500 first prize and enjoy a £300 boost apiece.

The winners were decided on the last game of the tournament as Chancers faced the defending champions at the end of a tough week on the Hougue du Pommier rinks.

The latter had opened the final round robin series with a monumental 40 shots to six victory over fellow local side Scorpions, but had lost to Rat 'R' st on Friday evening, whilst Islanders had secured wins over Scorpions and Rat 'R' st but of more modest proportions.

So, with one big crucial match remaining, there was all to play for and an Islanders victory would give them the title with three wins out of three or a Chancers win would give them the title on shot difference.

In what effectively turned out to be the final of the competition Islanders opened well and took the first three ends to lead 4-0 only to see all the hard work wiped out when Chancers took a count of four on the fourth and followed this up with a single, another four and a double to lead 11-5 at eight ends.

The match had been scrappy to this point with nobody really consistently showing the form that had got both teams to this stage, but that was all about to change.

The 11th end was a crucial one.

Islanders held four or possibly five and were only four adrift at the time when Donaldson played a perfectly weighted trail to make two to his side and Chancers followed this with a single to lead 14-7 after 12 of the 18 ends.

Over the second half of the game, Ian Merrien, playing at lead, had begun to get the better of his opposite number, Steve Desperques, and Chancers' Neal Mollet was frequently called upon to open up the head with weighted bowls.

Carol Ingrouille continued to add the positional bowls at second for Islanders and Ali and Paul Merrien grew in confidence as the game progressed.

The last six ends saw Islanders pile on the pressure, grouping their bowls around the jack in an effort to get back on terms and a rare mistake by Donaldson allowed them to pick up a four when his slightly narrow delivery moved the jack into a clump of green and white bowls and Islanders closed to trail by three.

However, the generosity stopped there and despite Islanders' best efforts, either a Matt Le Ber delivery would spoil the party or more often than not a world-class Donaldson delivery would pull out a single shot to the would-be champions or restrict the defending champions to one.

Ultimately Islanders needed five on the last end to draw the match, a result which would have given them the title.

They gave it a good go, too.

By the time Ian Merrien, Carol Ingrouille and Ali Merrien had completed their final deliveries Islanders had laid the five they needed.

But Chancers were having none of it and an excellent drawn bowl from Le Ber gave Chancers second shot.

Paul Merrien had no alternative but to play with weight to try and remove Le Ber's bowl or burn the end.

With a number of short bowls in the way, there was not much of a target and skip Merrien failed in his quest and thus Chancers took the trophy and the first prize on shot difference.

Popular opinion was that world singles champion Donaldson had saved his best till last and when the going got tough.

But the skip was keen to deflect some of the credit for the tournament success.

'Yes, I played some important bowls but so did Matt.

'It was a real team effort,' said Donaldson.

He acknowledged it had been tight against Islanders.

'When you are playing against three or four of the island's top players it was always going to be a struggle.'

Meanwhile the consolation group was won by the Isle of Wight-Guernsey combination of Lucy Beere, Peter Furmidge, Keith and Gwen de la Mare and Martyn Dorey playing as Tiger Sharks who won all three of their matches in the second round robin series.

Steve Hogg, HSBC Bank plc area manager and Chris Lihou (commercial manager), presented the trophy and prizes on behalf of the sponsor and advised that their support would be forthcoming for the event in 2008, news that was well received by Giba, competitors and supporters alike.