Tie-break woe for Greechan

Tie-break woe for Greechan

The Jersey player started brilliantly, taking advantage of some loose play from the Welsh junior champion to win the first set 11-1, and had the chance to seal victory towards the end of the second.

Packwood, who had pipped her twin sister Kelly in a remarkable semi-final, kept her cool to win the set 11-6, then put two bowls within a couple of inches of the jack to claim victory, 1-11, 11-6, 2-0.

While Lindsey would be perfectly entitled to blame the cruel best-of-two-sets format for her defeat in the final, she was delighted to play the system in the semi-finals, when it was the turn of Guernsey’s Lianna Bichard to suffer.

Guernsey supporters could not believe it when Lianna, who whitewashed Lindsey 13-0 in the opening set and scored a full house of four shots on the opening end of the second set, was beaten on the last end of a tense tie-break.

The supporters felt, with some justification, that their young star deserved to win after scoring the first 17 shots – but the heavily criticised format allows a player who has been outplayed in the first set to level matters by winning the second set, however slim the margin.

Lianna certainly looked home and dry when she led 4-0 in that second set, and even when Lindsey used her vast experience to force her into a tie-break, the Guernsey player regained the initiative on the first end of three.

Showing her customary resilience, and realising that however lop-sided the scorecard might appear, she simply needed to win the next two ends, Lindsey took two singles for a crazy-looking 0-13, 9-6, 2-1 victory.

The Packwood twins – who are disco-dancing champions – enjoyed the same roller-coaster ride in their semi-final, Kelly winning the first set 12-2, Kerry the second 11-2, before Kerry edged home with a single on the last end of the seemingly inevitable tie-break.

England junior champion Jamie Chestney defeated Malaysian Safuan Said 7-5, 7-2 in the men’s final, while Anglo-Welsh duo Lucy Beere and David Axon won the pairs with an 11-4, 6-7, 2-0 final win over Nor Iryani Azmi of Malaysia and Guernsey hope Craig Dorey.

The World Indoor Bowls Council have announced that next year’s championships will be staged in Malaysia, where an impressive indoor facility was recently opened in Klang.

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