Garry Collins, above, teamed up with his father, Nigel, to beat defending champions Gary Pitschou and Dave Lucas in the Travers Pairs. (Picture by Daniel Guerin, 0468390)
FATHER and son Nigel and Garry Collins have knocked defending champions Gary Pitschou and Dave Lucas out of the British Isles qualifier Travers Pairs.
In a very competitive match at Delancey Park, the family combination saw a loss of the early advantageous head build-ups destroyed or turned around by Pitschou, who was in top form to keep the scores level at 8-8 after 12 ends.
However, with the drizzle getting heavier and Pitschou consistently faced with the long jack length and build-up against him, he managed to win only two of the last nine.
Collins jnr played a superb dead draw behind the jack with his last wood when three down on the 20th and with Pitschou’s path to the jack blocked, it was all but over for the very successful pairing.
A three for the winning father-and-son pair on the last end completed a 22-12 scorecard.
In the semi-final, they will play brothers Paul and Ian Merrien, who led throughout against their father and brother, Mick and Alan, in a 23-9 victory.
The other semi-final will be contested between Matt Le Ber and Daniel de la Mare, who are arguably now favourites as they have won the British Isles title before in 2005, and the fellow Vale Rec pairing of Mick Hullock and Alan Gibson.
Le Ber and de la Mare beat two of Vale Rec’s up and coming stars Peter Whales and Andy Lucas.
Although the latter would admit to having been totally outplayed, they refused to concede the match when all was going against them and showed their character in finishing all 21 ends in the rain, ending with the scorecard reading 44-6.
Hullock and Gibson’s win over GBC’s Phil Schofield and Steve Machon coupled with their previous round wins must alert the island selectors to the quality of their bowling and must put them in with a chance of Le Quesne selection.
They were behind initially until they picked up two counts of four on the seventh and eighth ends to put them five ahead.
Their good form continued and they won with an end to spare, 26-13.
Article posted on 14th August, 2008 - 2.15pm
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