Merrien tops her group in Australia

ALISON MERRIEN and Gary Pitschou are once again flying Guernsey's flag with pride - and conspicuous success - in Australia. They are competing for the World Bowls Champion of Champions titles for men and women, which are up for grabs at the palatial Warilla club in New South Wales.

Merrien surprisingly lost her opening match on a tiebreak to the Netherlands' all-action Guurtje Ros-Copier, but since then she has not dropped a set in three excellent victories and she now sits proudly at the top of her group table.

Slow to start against the Dutch star, she lost the first set, 14-4, but hit back to square the match with an 8-5 win in the second before losing the tiebreak 2-0.

A comfortable 12-2, 10-5 win over Spain's Sheila Stead set her up for what looked like a tough third-round encounter with twice Commonwealth Games champion Siti Zalina Ahmad, from Malaysia.

Again the Guernsey player was in supreme form, winning at a canter, 12-3, 13-7, and she continued her march with a splendid 13-5, 14-3 victory over the Namibian champion, Marie van der Merwe.

Pitschou is handily placed in mid-table after having won two and losing two of his first four matches, but he is confident he can pick up enough points over the weekend to move him into the top four in his group.

In his opening game, Pitschou was unlucky not to force South Africa's Wayne Perry into a tiebreak and the top Springbok was relieved to get home, 9-3, 9-9, but his luck improved in the second round, when he beat Kenya's Patrick Hughes, 7-5, 11-3.

Mark Sandford, a canny Canadian, inflicted a 9-7, 11-4 straight-sets defeat on the Sarnian in the third round, but a 13-4, 7-5 win over the Papua New Guinean champion Pomat Topal gave Pitschou something to smile about.

With the top four in each section qualifying for the quarter-finals, there is every chance that Guernsey will be represented in the knockout stages of the men's and women's events.

Merrien has yet to play the Canadian, Leanne Chinery, Filipina Rosita Bradborn, Scotland's British Isles singles champion Kathy Houston and Espina McNair, from Papua New Guinea.

Pitschou's remaining opponents are Tony Grantham (New Zealand), Boon Hong Lim (Singapore), Jack Behling (USA), Mark Walton (England), Keith Jones (Spain), Peter Pita (Cook Islands) and William James (Swaziland).