WBT @ West Lothian Indoor Bowling Club
Session 7
Quarter Final One
The first of this year’s Quarter finals saw Paul Foster MBE drawn against Jason Banks. An early Banks runner had the set level early on before a great 3 ends from Paul Foster had him 5-2 in front. An inch perfect trail of the jack to land a double looked to have the first set in the bag before Banks replied with three winning ends of his own to take a single shot lead up the last. Banks left his first two deliveries short and perhaps blocked the players preferred side of the rink. Indeed, he was punished by Paul as the 5 time World Indoor champion added a second shot within 2 inches to win the first set.
Banks started the second set with real purpose and quickly held a 7-1 lead. 2 slack openers from Banks looked to have opened the door for Paul and he obliged, lying 3 shots before Banks adjusted to draw the winner. End 7 saw Paul look to chase the set score for the first time, making contact with the head to lie 3 shots on the re-spot when the dust settled. Banks was in no mood to allow any comeback and expertly drew the winner. With the Bowl hidden Paul resorted to drawing for a single leaving him with 5 shots required from the remaining 2 ends. Banks wrapped up the second set with a single to force the tie-break.
The first end saw neither player deliver the bowl that looked close enough to win the end, Banks dispatching his final delivery to lie the shot within 6 inches, Paul narrowly failed on the short side of the jack in his attempt to reply. Banks had the advantage of the last bowl in end 2 of the tie break, a bowl that would see him progress to the semi-finals. An exchange of drawing bowls saw Paul lying the shot with just the last bowl to come, Banks opting for a full out drive to remove bowl and jack from the rink to claim his place in the last 4. Jason Banks beat Paul Foster MBE 2-1 (8-9, 10-4, 2-0)
Quarter Final Two
Stewart Anderson and Mervyn King locked horns in the other session quarter final, in a high-quality drawing exchange there was little room for margin as both players treated the spectators to an excellent display of dead weight drawing bowls. With neither player faltering it was no surprise they could not be separated by any margin in the opening set as King took a 1 shot lead up the last. The defending champion was not about to let his crown go lightly though and snatched the first set with a deadly duo at the last end to win the set.
King continued to play his consistent draw game with Anderson looking for more attacking bowls. An exceptional full house count at end 3 for King got him going in the second set before adding back-to-back doubles to lead 8-6 in a set he had to win. Anderson facing a head with three shots against and the prospect of slipping 5 behind with just two ends to play dispatched the perfect running bowl to turn the jack for three shots of his own. He followed up that bowl on end 8 by turning the jack a matter of inches to his own four bowls and count a maximum to claim the set and match. Stewart Anderson beat Mervyn King 2-0 (8-5, 13-8)
(Matt Osborne)
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