Successful weekend makes Pitschou player of the year
GARY PITSCHOU has won the Bowls Guernsey player-of-the-year award following a very successful finals weekend at the Vale Rec Bowls Club.
In the open singles final, Pitschou played fellow club-mate Matt Solway in the first of two battles, with both qualifying to play the Men’s Elliott singles final also.
It was an even affair in the open category, with the score being 8-8 after 10 ends.
Two full houses of four over the two ends placed Pistchou in a commanding position and while Solway collected an odd single, Pitschou held the lead to win 21-14.
In the Men’s Elliott Singles it was another close match to start with, being 10-10 after 12 ends.
A 3-2-1 run placed Pitschou ahead after 18 ends but a good reply from Solway, with a single and a double, brought him back to within a shot.
However, a loose end from Solway resulted in Pitschou collecting a count of three to win the match 21-17.
In the Men’s Travers Pairs, Pitschou teamed up with fellow Vale Rec teammate Matt Le Ber to play Paul Wakeham and Peter Priaulx from the NBA.
It was the latter who took early control of the match to lead 11-6 after 10 ends.
A close affair over the next five ends levelled the match at 12-12 and four ends later it 14-14.
It was the Vale Rec duo who claimed the match, though, with a single and a double in the last two ends to win 17-14.
In the Men’s Sandeman Fours, Pitschou then teamed up with Matt Le Ber, Kris Lowe and Matt Solway as the Falcons and they beat GBC’s The Devils of Dave Webb, Ean Sarahs, Michael Ogier and Chris Dyer.
The match was close to start with, being 3-3 after six ends, but the Falcons then collected a number of counts of threes and fours to win the match 23-13 with one end remaining.
‘In total, Gary Pitschou collected 99 ranking points this year, making him the Island’s 2022 player of the year,’ said Garry Collins, the Bowls Guernsey president.
In the Women’s De Putron Singles, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Lucy Beere beat Jackie Nicolle 21-3 to claim her 10th Island women’s singles title.
Mick Le Gallic beat Michele De Carteret by the same scoreline to win the the Dot Foley Novice Singles.
In the Carre Women’s Over 60 singles, Rose Ogier and Lyn Small battled it out and there was nothing to separate them after 20 ends when it was 16-16.
However, a great finish from Ogier, who produced a 2-1-1-1 run, saw her claim the match 21-16.
In the Smithard Men’s Singles, defending champion John Rihoy retained his title with a fine win over Nigel Collins, 21-19.
The match was all square at 14-14 after 18 ends, but Rihoy won the last three ends to win the match.
In the Brookman Women’s Pairs, defending champions Lucy Beere and Yvonne Le Gallic beat Rose Ogier and Lyn Small 18-15.
The champions had the early lead by collecting 10 shots in the first four ends.
In the Nicolle Mixed Pairs, Vale Rec combination John Rihoy and Lyn Small played GBC’s Ali Guillou and Michael Ogier.
It was the Vale Rec duo who had the lead with a 3-2-1 run to start. That placed them six ahead and the gap remained throughout the match, the final score being 21-15.
In the Over 60 Mixed Pairs, Vale Rec’s Rose Ogier and Steve Williams beat GBC husband-and-wife pairing of Terry and Brenda Brokenshire 26-17.
The Vale Rec duo led from the start, before a count of six on the 16th end placed them firmly in control.
In the Men’s Tostevin Triples, Elite (John Pinson, Dennis Midgley and Don Ogier) beat Garry Collins, Nigel Collins and Matt Le Ber 22-13.
Elite collected a count of five and two counts of four early in the match to be in control throughout.
In the Women’s Woodhard Triples, Jolly Jacks (Mary Saunders, Lyn Small and Jackie Nicolle) beat Wonder Women (Yvonne Le Gallic, Rose Ogier and Lucy Beere) 18-16 in a close match.
The Jolly Jacks were joined by Brenda Brokenshire and the Wonder Women by Julie Solway when they met in the Women’s Friend Fours final.
In another close battle, this time it was 19-19 after 19 ends before two singles took the Jolly Jacks over the line for their second team trophy of the weekend.
In the Over 55 Men’s Fours, The Devils (Terry Brokenshire, Brian Rabey, Robin Herbert and Colin Leighton) beat the Eagles (John Pinson, Dennis Midgley, Steve Williams and Gary Pitschou) 23-17.
In the Over 55 Women’ Fours, Odd Balls (Mary Saunders, Rose Ogier, Jackie Nicolle and Lyn Small) beat Girls Aloud (Babs Savident, Brenda Brokenshire, Miriam Parker and Diane Leale) 23-15.
