Our own multiple world champion lost out in the gold medal match of the women’s singles bowls to another multiple world champion in England star Katherine Rednall in a nip-and-tuck encounter at the Scottish Events Campus.
Signs were ominous for Merrien when Rednall, who has won the World Indoor Bowls Championship title seven times, claimed a count of three on the first end of the final, but the Sarnian immediately hit back with three shots of her own on the second end.
The first set continued in much the same vein, with the lead changing hands on three occasions, but when leading 7-6 on the seventh and final end of the set, Rednall produced an outstanding drive that turned a deficit into two shots of her own.
Merrien fired with her last bowl, but luck was against her when the jack, which flew off the rink, was re-spotted with Rednall still holding a shot and she took the set 8-6.
A single to start the second set showed Merrien remained up for the fight, but Rednall responded with three on the second end and a single on the third.
Merrien hit back with back-to-back singles to be trailing by only a shot, 4-3, with two ends remaining, but Rednall then closed out the match 8-3 with consecutive counts of two.
In a tough, quickfire format with 25 of the women’s top players in attendance, to reach the podium is an outstanding achievement and another impressive entry on Merrien’s extraordinary CV.
She had guaranteed herself a medal after reaching the final in fine style on Saturday night as she overcame the player ranked No 1 female in the World Bowls Series.
The Guernsey star, who topped Section B having won her first four of five matches in the group stage, was up against Malaysia’s Emma Firyana Saroji in her last four clash and despite dropping a shot on the opening end of the match, she went on to dominate the first set with 11 unanswered shots to make the final two ends of the scheduled seven redundant.
The second set was much closer, though, with Saroji taking a count of three on the fourth end to take a 4-2 lead, only for Merrien to respond with a full house to move 6-4 ahead.
Saroji narrowed the gap by one going into the final end, meaning the Malaysian player needed at least two shots to force a tie-break, but it was Merrien who took two to clinch a memorable 11-1, 8-5 win.
Rednall beat Shae Wilson of Norfolk Island 7-4, 4-9, 1-0 in the other semi-final.
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