World No. 2 knocks out Merrien in Perth

For reasons no-one can properly understand, bowls is dominated by men, but the feisty Guernsey bowler famously bucks the trend and was the only woman in the 32-strong field for the big event.

After coming through the gruelling qualification process at Lincoln, she was unlucky to be drawn to play the 2015 world indoor champion Brett, from Huntingdon, in the first round, and lost 11-0, 8-4.

In what was hardly the ideal start, Merrien was under the cosh in the first set, when she failed to take what chances she had and was generally off target with her trademark drives.

The writing was on the wall from the start.

Merrien was desperately unlucky with an attempted trail on the very first end, clipping the jack closer to Brett’s bowls instead of taking it through for a count.

However, despite the daunting scoreline, her usual competitive spirit was in evidence and the second set was much tighter, Brett and Merrien scoring on four ends apiece.

Unfortunately, while Merrien had to settle for four singles, Brett scored doubles on the fourth and fifth ends, followed by a treble on the sixth as he progressed.