ABBEY Andrieux produced an impressive performance against seven-time world indoor champion Katherine Rednall despite opening her Commonwealth Games campaign with defeat.
Making her Games debut, the Jersey bowler showed little sign of being intimidated by the occasion as she pushed one of the sport’s most decorated players before eventually losing 8-3, 6-5.
Andrieux made the perfect start, claiming the opening two shots of the match before Rednall’s class gradually came to the fore as the Englishwoman recovered to take the first set.
The second set proved to be a far tighter affair. Andrieux raced into a 4-0 lead and looked set to force a tie-break, only for Rednall to demonstrate exactly why she has dominated the sport for so long.
A remarkable final bowl from the Englishwoman denied the Jerseyman a commanding 6-0 advantage before she slowly reeled the deficit back in, eventually edging ahead 6-5 with one end remaining.
Despite narrowly missing out on a tie-break, Andrieux was pleased with her display against world-class opposition.
“I’m proud of how I played. It was tough opposition,” she said.
“The first set I was very nervous, but in the second set I thought, ‘Maybe I can do this.’ I just wanted to do myself proud and I feel like I have.”
Andrieux believes competing against the world’s best can only aid her development.
“It gives you Games experience and that’s what we’re here for. We don’t get to play top world-class bowlers very often in Jersey, so it’s a privilege to play them.”
Elsewhere, Jersey’s men’s pairs team of Ross Davis and Malcolm de Sousa began their campaign with a straight-sets defeat to Guernsey’s Ian Merrien and Jason Greenslade.
The Sarnians claimed a 5-1, 7-1 victory, with Davis and de Sousa unable to find the consistency needed on the fast indoor surface.
“It was a struggle,” admitted de Sousa. “We got bowls fairly close but just not close enough. The greens we’ve been practising on are a lot slower than these, so it was really difficult. We’ll go home, assess the game and try to improve on it.”
Davis remained optimistic despite the opening defeat.
“It’s quick – the set can get away from you pretty quickly,” he said. “There are things to build on and work on. We’ve got four more games to go and we’ll push on from here.”
Asked what the plan was moving forward, he smiled: “Get closer.”
Andrieux returns to action on Wednesday morning against Canada’s Kelly McKerihen, while Davis and de Sousa continue their round-robin campaign against Malaysia tomorrow afternoon.
