De la Mare defeats the reigning champ

JUST a week after his excellent performance in the British Isles Champion-ships, Don Batiste lost his grip on the Bowls Guernsey men's singles title.

The Northerner's first round Elliott Singles tie was a 25-end thriller against Vale Rec's Daniel de la Mare at the Corbet Field.

Having been level at 6-6 after nine ends, 16-16 at 20 and 20-20 at 24, Batiste drew shot within four inches of the jack only to see de la Mare draw even closer to take the spoils 21-20.

The Corbet Field green was also the venue for the shortest match of the round when Vale's Alan Gibson outplayed his club colleague Stan Simon 21-1 in only 13 ends.

Vale's Matt Le Ber took 18 ends to beat GBC's Geoff Savident, despite having been 11-0 up at six ends and 20-6 up after 13.