CI champion Merrien ready for return to Potters

The Sarnian star heads to the Potters Holiday Resort in Hopton-On-Sea buoyed by winning two titles at last weekend’s Channel Islands Championships finals in Jersey.

The 20-time Guernsey island champion beat her Jersey counterpart Lindsey Greechan 21-10 in the women’s singles final, following a mini revival from the Caesarean, from 18-3 to 18-10.

Merrien also tasted success in the women’s triples in which she was the skip of the team also including Shirley Petit and Catherine Snell, as they ran out comfortable 23-8 victors over Lindsay and Chloe Greechan and Megan Kivlin.

However, Chloe Greechan and Kivlin did come out on top of their CI pairs final against Merrien and Petit by the narrowest of margins, 19-18, and remarkably Merrien and Petit, having been joined by Snell and Rose Ogier, also lost the fours showdown against Jersey by just one shot, 25-24, having conceded five on the last end to Fiona Archibald, Carolyn Stanley, Diane Canavan and Suzanne Job.

‘Two out of four is not too bad and it was a good competition before I go away, to get into the mindset and get ready,’ Merrien said.

‘I’ve been playing Lindsay for many years and she’s certainly not an easy opponent. It was probably not her best game today but I was in better form in the singles. I just had to keep digging in there to get through.’

This week she once again joins forces with Paul Foster after they won the mixed pairs title at the World Bowls Tour Championships 12 months ago and this time around they are up against England’s Jamie Chesney and Clare Hendra from New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

That match starts at 10am tomorrow with the semi-finals scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

In the women’s singles, Merrien has been drawn against Lisa Featherby of Australia in the quarter-finals and they meet on Sunday evening at 7.30pm.

Guernsey are also being represented at Potters by Wales international, now island resident, Jason Greenslade.

He has progressed to the second round of the men’s singles thanks to a 10-4, 9-2 victory over Neil Furman of the USA and will now face Mervyn King on Tuesday.

Greenslade is already through to Monday’s final of the men’s pairs, with he and playing partner Michael Stepney from Scotland having won two matches this week.

His involvement at Potters meant Greenslade was unable to play in the CI finals.

Ian Merrien, the Guernsey men’s singles runner-up, was beaten 21-7 by Jersey’s in-form Michael Rive in the men’s singles and, in Greenslade’s absence, joined forces with Tom Bonsall in the men’s pairs but went down 23-15 to Rive and Scott Ruderham.

The other Sarnian title winners in Jersey were Bradley Le Noury, who was a convincing 21-3 winner over Tyler Le Moine in the men’s under-25 singles, and the men’s triple of Gary Pitschou and brothers Mike and Steve Le Noury who won their final 16-14 against Ross Davis, Rive and Maurice Andrieux.

The CI champions now progress to the the British Isles Indoor Bowls Council Championships in Scotland in March.