Ali loses top spot

ALISON MERRIEN'S reign as the world number has ended in curious circumstances, according to a confusing announcement from the offices of World Bowls Ltd in Edinburgh.

The Guernsey star moved to the top of the official rankings when she won the bronze medal in the women's World Cup in Warilla in April, but the 'new' list shows that she has been overtaken by her New Zealand rival, Val Smith.

Strangely, however, neither player was involved in last week's World Bowls Champion of Champions in Ayr, the first ranking event since the World Cup, so they had no opportunity to add to their points total.

When the Guernsey Press asked Gary Smith, the CEO of World Bowls to explain what had happened, this was the reply:

'It's quite simple really. Having now completed another Champion of Champions, Alison had points from previous years' Champion of Champions that have now reduced.'

Presumably, Smith's points were more recently obtained and therefore her total has not been reduced, so Merrien has lost her number one spot on a technicality.

Merrien, who is currently in second place in the WBL rankings, will be keen to collect more points at the earliest opportunity.

The good news for Guernsey is that, after grabbing the runner-up spot in Ayr last week, Lucy Beere has obtained a foothold on the ranking list and makes her first appearance at number 13.

While Merrien's husband Ian is at number 12 in the men's list, Beere's boyfriend Matt Le Ber, who performed so well last week in Scotland, did not collect enough points to take him into the top 16.