Husband and wife repeat outdoor singles feat

THE World outdoor Champion of Champions secured a fourth successive island indoor singles title at La Hougue du Pommier. And Alison Merrien's demolition of under-25 starlet Lianna Bichard came on top of her husband, Ian, landing the men's singles title for the first time.

In the local final he beat Bichard's partner Dan de La Mare 21-12.

It is the second time the husband-and-wife pairing have held island singles crowns at the same time, as Ian explained.

'We achieved the feat outdoors a few years ago, so it's nice to repeat it indoors.'

Afterwards, it was off to a pre-planned celebration.

'We did nothing special as we were going out anyway to celebrate Ali's world title.'

To be fair to Bichard she had travelled back from a weekend spent in the UK for the Sunday evening game and had endured something of a bumpy ride prior to her encounter with Merrien, but the rough treatment didn't end on the airport runway.

Merrien was in blistering form and limited her off colour opponent to a mere three shots, taking the title 21-3 in 16 ends.

Ian Merrien's match with de la Mare started evenly and at 10 ends the score was 7-7 before de la Mare secured a three to edge ahead.

However a single, a full house count of four and two doubles put Merrien into the driving seat at 16-10.

A single to de la Mare steadied the ship, but a further three singles and a double to finish saw Merrien take the men's singles title 21-12.

The winner, who is also developing into a leading distance runner locally, said his added fitness is doing his bowls no harm.

'When I feel fitter I'm better balanced and I play better.'

De la Mare had qualified for all five competitions open to him and he was in action again in the under-25 singles where he faced Craig Dorey.

The latter's season long experience in Australia seems to have had a great effect on him and he has become a better all-round bowler as de la Mare was to discover.

Dorey opened up a 13-1 lead and although a single and a maximum count of four saw de la Mare move up to six, Dorey maintained the impetus and ran out a comfortable 21-8 winner.

The two also met in the under-25 singles qualifier for the World Indoor Bowls Council event played over two sets and a tie- break.

This time de la Mare exacted revenge, taking the game in two straight sets, 7-3, 10-3.

The final singles match of the weekend saw Shaun Bichard face Anne-Marie Bewey for the consolation title and complete a 21-06 win.

Meanwhile, Kris Bichard joined forces with de la Mare to beat Steve Desperques and Matt Le Ber 27-10 in the pairs final.

The women's pairs saw the grandmother and granddaughter combination of Mavis Richards and Lianna Bichard take on Alison Merrien and Carol Ingrouille.

The first nine ends saw Richards leading particularly well and, with Bichard drawing very well and converting heads, a family victory looked likely.

But a single to Merrien and Ingrouille on the ninth end allowed them to change the length of the jack and an emphatic score of seven on the 10th turned the tide their way. They ultimately triumphed 21-8.

Merrien and Ingrouille were joined by Shirley Petit as Wonder Women for the triples final and Bowl City Bowlers Bichard and Richards were augmented by Gwen de la Mare.

Wonder Women dominated from the beginning and ran out 21-6 winners with Bowl City Bowlers conceding the match with four ends left to play.

The men's triples saw the Mafia team of Mac Timms, Mick Merrien and Paul Merrien face the Rebels of brothers Mike and Steve Le Noury and John Wallis.

The last mentioned has been in inspired form this season, none more so than in the semi-final encounter with Likely Lads, but unfortunately for him the bubble burst during the final and Merrien's men were able to take the game 21-12 aided by a count of six on the 12th end.

The women's fours saw the Bowl City Bowlers triples team joined by Shirley Petit and it was Petit who was in excellent form at lead to set up the 20-13 victory over the Wonder Women team of Alison Merrien, Carol Ingrouille, Sheila Bretel and Jan Lawrence.

Wonder Women could have done with some assistance from a super hero as Petit set up the heads from end one with inch-perfect drawing and she was ably backed up by de la Mare at two, Richards at three and Lianna Bichard at skip.

The men's fours ultimately proved to be the most dramatic of all the finals contested in this series.

Garry Collins, Terry Lawrence, Gary Pitschou and Matt Le Ber as Falcons all played extremely well throughout the final against the Hit Men squad of Kris, Steve and Sean Bichard skipped by Dan de la Mare.

With de la Mare playing particularly impressively he was able to negate the good bowls of the opposition and ensure his side went into the last end five ahead at 20-15.

Collins had the mat courtesy of the single shot picked up on the 20th end and he cast an almost full length jack.

Both teams relaxed and drew to the jack.

The storm going on outside the stadium caused the lights to dip to darkness as Lawrence delivered and the shock of being plunged into darkness caused a fluffed delivery.

Sportingly Hit Men suggested that Lawrence retrieve his bowl and deliver it again.

He drew close to the jack and so too did Pitschou and Le Ber leaving de La Mare faced with a drive or draw dilemma.

He attempted the draw with bothhis bowls, but was slightly too wide with his first and an inch or so too heavy with his final delivery.

As this final one came to rest it became obvious that Hit Men had been unable to draw within four feet of the jack on this end and Falcons had secured an improbable count of seven to take victory 22-20.