Commonwealth Games hero Alex Marshall did not hold back at the Dewars Centre in Perth as he described the portable rink that has been laid for the World Bowls Tour Co-operative Funeralcare Scottish International Open as “diabolical”.
Five-time world indoor singles champion Marshall, who won two gold medals at Kelvingrove in July, was bitterly disappointed after losing on a tie-break to relatively unknown PBA qualifier Duncan Christie, from the Whiteknights club in Reading, who described his shock first round win as the highlight of his bowling career.
Marshall was all at sea in the first set, which the 56-year-old Christie won quite comfortably, but the East Lothian man found his touch in the second and levelled the scores at one set all, sending the match into a tantalising tie-break.
It seemed as if Marshall had weathered the storm when he drew first blood, winning the first end, but Christie played superbly to win the second, and was always in charge on the sudden-death decider, though Marshall was desperately unlucky with an on-target drive.
Hoping to carry the jack into the ditch to win the game, he was dismayed to see the jack ricochet to the side of the rink, where Christie was well-placed, and the Reading man returned a 12-6 2-13 2-1 card, and completed a giant-killing feat.
Arbroath’s Darren Burnett had been among the players who had been shaking their heads in disbelief as bowls were slow to bend on the backhand away from the commentary box.
Tournament director Richard Maddieson identified a fault, which he described as ‘sort of a ridge that you can feel under the carpet,’ and promptly ordered the firm responsible for erecting the rink to attend to it.
Maddieson, who was unable to specify what was causing the ridge, explained to the six players involved what the problem was, but felt it was only fair to complete the first round before undertaking the necessary repairs.
“If necessary, we will work through the night to make sure the rink is perfect tomorrow,” Maddieson said.
“We know it’s not right, but, to be honest, every playing surface has its idiosyncrasies, and, at the end of the day, it’s the same for both players.”
World No 1 Paul Foster faced one of Scotland’s rising stars, Ronnie Duncan, who plays for the Midlothian club, and, although he mastered the rink, Foster was taken to a tie-break by the 31-year-old Duncan.
Foster came out of the blocks brilliantly, but Duncan stuck to his task and was only one shot adrift at 5-6 when the last end of the first set got under way.
Duncan’s last bowl, a drive, was so clearly off-target that Foster turned away, assuming he had the first set in his pocket but an outrageous stroke of luck saw the errant missile glance off a short bowl, and the jack bounced off another to leave Duncan in possession of two shots and the set.
Foster, who was always respectful of his young rival’s ability, took charge in the second set, and controlled the tie-break to win, 6-7 10-3 2-0.
In between the games featuring the two mighty Scots, Marshall and Foster, defending champion Nick Brett faced a challenge from New Zealand’s Rob Ashton, and made the rink look easy as he sped to a 14-3 10-6 victory.