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Hello and welcome to highlights of the quarterfinals of the singles | :00:12. | :00:47. | |
competition of the world Indoor Bowls Championships at Potters in | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
Hopton on Sea. There were two big derby games at | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
the Blue Rink this afternoon, to keep the Potters crowd enthralled. A | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
battle of the clans between Anderson and Marshall was one to whet the | :01:00. | :01:06. | |
appetite. And two local lads were also in | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
action, pairs partners and great friends, Harlow and Brett, went head | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
to head for East Anglian bragging rights. | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
But eight players in total battling it out for four semifinal spots. | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
Let's look at how the draw looked at the start of play on Friday. | :01:28. | :01:38. | |
First of all to the match between Alex Marshall and Stuart Anderson. | :01:39. | :01:45. | |
Alex Marshall, as we all know, has a wonderful record here at Potters, | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
having won the title on six occasions. | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
His opponent, Stewart Anderson, now 30, is also a former champion here | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
at Potters, having won the title back in 2013. | :01:57. | :01:59. | |
We join this match in the sixth end of the first set with Marshall | :02:00. | :02:06. | |
having made a fast start and leading 6-2. Commentary comes from Andy | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
Thomson and David Corkhill. Not sure if Alex's bowl just touched | :02:12. | :02:58. | |
the jack. It certainly looks very close. If it has touched the jack, | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
spray chalk has allied and -- applied and if it goes into the | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
ditch, it stays there. Anything that goes outside the confines of the | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
rink to the sides is dead. But the... If it goes into the ditch, it | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
must be a toucher to stay. So good bowls by Alex. I wonder | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
should Stewart start attacking things and be more aggressive. I | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
think so. The way Alex has started, he's going to have to try to change | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
the running of this game. He's got a chance here. One will go. The back | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
bowl is good. I'd agree with you, David. The opening ball looks a | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
toucher but I don't think it's been sprayed. Well, we can't tell from | :03:42. | :03:43. | |
here. It's just so close. Didn't make it for the touch. With | :03:44. | :04:17. | |
that angle, it wouldn't have bounced back. The view that we have got here | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
from the commentary box, actually, doesn't show us that angle as it | :04:23. | :04:30. | |
were. However, Stewart's close here. The edge on the jack would have been | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
really good for him. Well, I think he thought he was down the throat of | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
that one. He thought he was good. Shaking his head here. It was very | :04:41. | :04:42. | |
close. Half an inch. I haven't got an angle here. I don't | :04:43. | :05:01. | |
know if Alex has another ball on the green apart from the one in his | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
hand. Which means Stewart will be after it. Correct. | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
So another one needed. This is looking better. | :05:12. | :05:19. | |
Yeah, all the way. Nicely tucked in behind. Stewart will go for the two | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
bowls. He'll try and remove both of them off the rink. Alex's final | :05:24. | :05:30. | |
delivery. Perfect spot. Four inches behind the jack. | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
Well, he's got to hit this, David, or he's in trouble. | :05:36. | :05:45. | |
A mobile phone is going off somewhere, so they'll get that | :05:46. | :05:54. | |
sorted very quickly. Always difficult. A large crowd. | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
They are asked to make sure that their mobile phones are off. Surely | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
got it this time. Oh. Again, just the one. Oh! If he'd got that just | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
an inch less, the two bowls would have disappeared and he probably | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
would have stayed in for three. As it is... One shot, Alex Marshall. It | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
was a perfect strike, but unfortunately he got the ball, | :06:23. | :06:24. | |
didn't move the jack. Unlucky, Stewart. He hit the target and | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
that's all you could ask for. So Alex Marshall in sparkling form in | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
the first set, which he eventually won 10-2 and he had the better of | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
the early exchanges in the second set and heads 4-2 prior to the start | :06:40. | :06:42. | |
of end six. Well I don't know if this is the | :06:43. | :06:57. | |
right tactic. I know it's his favourite length, but he seems to be | :06:58. | :07:06. | |
losing out to Alex on this length. APPLAUSE | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
Apart from the audience -- a clap from the audience but it's a foot | :07:12. | :07:12. | |
down. I'd expect Alex to beat that. Alex is loving this full-length | :07:13. | :07:35. | |
jack. Stewart's got to try to change it about a bit. His bowls are | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
ideally suited. And Stewart will know that if he goes much shorter, | :07:39. | :07:45. | |
if he goes to the minimum 23, 24, well, there's very few people other | :07:46. | :07:48. | |
than maybe Paul Foster that can match Alex at that distance. Yeah, | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
but I think sometimes you've got to try things in a game, especially | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
when you're being outbowled. And that's a good recovery. | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
Very close. He's gone to jack. Oh, that's perfect. That's just perfect. | :08:02. | :08:29. | |
He trade the track on the -- jack on the forehand. Stewart Anderson is | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
saying to himself, "What on earth have I got to do here?" This is a | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
difficult shot on this forehand. He plays it to perfection. Once again, | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
forcing Stewart into the heavy bowl. Has to arrive at his own and come | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
back. He's got a chance here off his own wing bowl. But these runners | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
have often been under. It's better this time. Bowl on to bowl. Oh! He's | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
just run away from it again! Good hit. Good hit. Remarkable hit but | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
you can see by the reactions that he's still a shot down. One red. | :09:08. | :09:14. | |
He's saying, "What am I meant to do?" | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
Well, he's brought it out into the open. He's given him self a chance. | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
-- himself a chance. Unless Alex puts this one into the top of the | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
jack and then he's in even more trouble. | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
Well, he's just going to go off the head a little bit and it's another | :09:40. | :09:49. | |
shot. Perfect weight. Once again, it's another pressure shot. It is. | :09:50. | :09:57. | |
Stewart Anderson doesn't show pressure very much. He really | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
doesn't. He tries to keep... Just keeps very calm and gets on with it. | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
Some players, you can tell, Andy, that they're just starting to fold. | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
But that's not the case with Stewart. He needs a length bowl, | :10:13. | :10:24. | |
though. Can't afford to be short. Short ball coming in. Well played. | :10:25. | :10:27. | |
Well done, Stewart Anderson. That was not easy. That was a lot of | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
pressure after a forehand runner to get a good, close bowl on the | :10:32. | :10:39. | |
backhand. One green. Here we see the last delivery from Stewart. Had to | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
draw within 18 inches. Draws the winner. However, Alex has got a good | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
shot here. If he turns a jack for three, I think Stewart Anderson will | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
just run for the hills with a white flag! Alex is looking at this. Well, | :10:52. | :10:59. | |
he's trying for the bowl... And he's got the bowl! Oh, look at that! Oh, | :11:00. | :11:07. | |
come on! Oh! Didn't even attempt the draw! One out. Looking at the | :11:08. | :11:14. | |
second. Two out. Two shots, Alex Marshall. Oh, that was just amazing. | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
He's playing so well, you'd think he'll just draw the jack but to go | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
for that shortish bowl... Yeah, just got it perfect, didn't he? He had a | :11:25. | :11:30. | |
chance, bowl or jack, it was quite a big target. Well... It's outrageous, | :11:31. | :11:37. | |
isn't it? Yes. He's played really good. Brilliant stuff. Absolutely | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
brilliant stuff. You know? It's... And he caught... The green brol | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
caught one of the red ones on the way through. If it had gone clean, | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
it would have been three. An, it would have been three. | :11:51. | :12:26. | |
To be fair, Stewart is doing everything he possibly can. It's | :12:27. | :12:36. | |
just one of these days that's he's basically been outbowled. | :12:37. | :12:44. | |
That does not happen too often. No, it doesn't. | :12:45. | :13:16. | |
I think the interesting thing for me, Andy, in this game is Alex has | :13:17. | :13:24. | |
said, "OK, I played the big bowls in the last match against Mark Dawes, | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
but this match I'm going to force my opponent to do that," and he's come | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
out of the blocks with all guns firing and everything's working. | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
Certainly has. This is a perfect display from Alex. He'll be | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
delighted with his performance and in a way he'll be hoping he's not | :13:41. | :13:48. | |
peaked too early. If he gets through this game, there's still two more | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
games to get through. But this has been an excellent display. Yeah. | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
Just needs to pass the green one. Not this time. I just wonder will | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
Stewart go for the two bowls? Well, I think he tried to draw with the | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
last one. He might be tempted now. I think he should. He should drive the | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
two out. Yeah. Going for them. He's just been on the inside with a lot | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
of his running bowls. Got the jack. Yeah. And the run-through. Red bowl | :14:14. | :14:21. | |
in the ditch. Now, this gives him a chance because he's lying a couple | :14:22. | :14:24. | |
and we'll just wait now. There's the marker going on for the jack. Let's | :14:25. | :14:28. | |
see if the red bowl is taken away. It should be. Yeah. There it goes. | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
Two green and no matter where Alex puts the bowl, Stewart will be after | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
it, if it's the shot. Alex will try and draw the shot but | :14:40. | :14:46. | |
at the same time try and hide the bowl. Welcome to the world of flat | :14:47. | :15:10. | |
green tactics. In a strange way, it's a better shot | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
that it's not too close to the jack, isn't it? It's tempting Stewart into | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
drawing it. Correct. And it's very drawable the way it sits. He's well | :15:21. | :15:21. | |
angled across. drawable the way it sits. He's well | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
try and draw this, I think. No. He's going for it. Oh, is he under? Needs | :15:27. | :15:36. | |
full contact! He's got it! Oh! Dear, oh, dear, made contact and put it on | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
to his own green bowl. Yeah. It's one of those days. Yes. On another | :15:41. | :15:46. | |
day, that would have been straight into the ditch but just clips the | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
bowl. Alex 7-2 ahead and looking good. | :15:53. | :16:07. | |
Well, he's one of those players, Alex Marshall, if you don't get him | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
in the first round, he just gets better and better and better. And | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
in the first round, he just gets have to say, though, this is | :16:19. | :16:21. | |
probably the best I've seen him I would agree. I think he's been | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
flawless. It's just been a great display of drawing bowls. I've | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
watched him in practice prior to the game and he was playing well in | :16:31. | :16:33. | |
practice. That is not always an indication that you're going to play | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
well in the game but he's carried it on. | :16:38. | :16:45. | |
Certainly now looking very good for a semifinals spot. | :16:46. | :16:52. | |
Well, the only player who can get close to Alex is Paul Foster. He has | :16:53. | :16:59. | |
four singles. He's a little bit younger, but not by much. And... | :17:00. | :17:06. | |
He'll be trying very, very hard to get close to Alex's record of six at | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
the moment. But Paul's away home this year and Alex is still going | :17:11. | :17:19. | |
very strong indeed. Yes. Paul made an early exit to Matthew Orrey. A | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
talented young English player. Playing David Gourlay. Should be a | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
good game. APPLAUSE | :17:28. | :17:44. | |
Well, Stewart Anderson has to score two shots on this end and we | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
continue to the ninth and final end and then he'll need a four so, | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
realistically, Andy, probably three minimum to give him any sort of an | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
outside chance. I would agree but, once again, Alex has lined two. | :17:58. | :18:05. | |
He'll go for cover. He's going for the awkward shot. | :18:06. | :18:18. | |
15 ends played in this match so far. Stewart Anderson has scored four | :18:19. | :18:21. | |
singles. Hard to believe. Hard to believe the way he's been playing, | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
Stewart. But I'm afraid in sport sometimes we have an off day and I'm | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
afraid Stewart's had one of these. I actually don't think he's played | :18:32. | :18:34. | |
that bad at times. I just think he's been constantly under pressure. | :18:35. | :18:36. | |
Yeah, I think that's the bottom line. Needs an edge to straighten | :18:37. | :18:48. | |
him. I think that look on Stewart Anderson's face just about sums up | :18:49. | :18:58. | |
the match. I think so! One of those days. One of those days. Forget | :18:59. | :19:01. | |
about it. Talented player. He'll be back. I still think that Alex has | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
generated this with Stewart. I think he would have played a lot better if | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
he hadn't been under just so much pressure and... Alex looking to see | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
what he's going to do. He's got the back covered. He's lying on two. He | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
knows Stewart has to score at least two. So he's lost one in the ditch. | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
If he split the two green bowls on the forehand or rested one of them, | :19:26. | :19:29. | |
that would be it, I think. I think so, David. | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
He knows that Stewart's got to play the hard, difficult four feet, five | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
feet of weight. So he knows that the chances of getting trail here are | :19:39. | :19:51. | |
difficult. So he's after the green bowl. Trying | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
to split them. Oh! He didn't even get to the front of the one or | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
behind the other one. We say up here he splits them, he splits them. You | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
know. It's just... It's outrageous. It really is. | :20:05. | :20:14. | |
I don't think he could have played much better. We can be very critical | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
up here about lots of people playing but at the same time you have to | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
praise people And they're playing well. Stewart just trying to get the | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
edge of the bowl. It's not going to work this time. Two shots, second | :20:29. | :20:39. | |
set and match to Alex Marshall. Look, there comes a time when | :20:40. | :20:42. | |
players play at the very height or even beyond what you think they can | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
play. You see Diane just acknowledging her husband's efforts | :20:48. | :20:54. | |
today. But I think if anybody even thought about not giving Alex the | :20:55. | :20:57. | |
praise he deserves after that, they're just, they're just mad. | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
Stewart, I suppose some people would say it wouldn't have mattered how | :21:03. | :21:05. | |
well you played when you're up against a man in the form that Alex | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
was today? To be fair, I don't really know what to say. Alex was... | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. Every time I lay, I | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
thought I'd have it and next bowl in, he beats you. What can you do? | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
Fair dues to Alex. That was some performance. It was some | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
performance. In the commentary box, the guys said that's as good as they | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
think they've seen you. They are the experts of course. How would you | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
assess your performance? I think it's the best I've performed on the | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
rink. You've won six titles and that was the best performance? I would | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
say it was. I was getting my first bowl in a lot of times. When Stewart | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
got him, I was -- in, I was beating him. I felt I could have beat | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
anything today, to be honest. Stewart was a fantastic player. But | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
he wasn't at his best today. He'll be back and he'll win this | :22:00. | :22:02. | |
tournament again sometime. I'm over the moon to be in the semifinal | :22:03. | :22:05. | |
again. A different match to your previous one where you had to dig | :22:06. | :22:08. | |
very deep. How do you switch from one to the other? It's hard. As I | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
said in my interviews, I take one game at a time. That's all you can | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
do. I'm confident in my own ability and what I do. From the word go, | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
right from the very start, if I can play my best, I know I'm hard to | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
beat. So the six-time champion looking in ominous form. We're now | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
going to look at the match between pairs partners and good friends | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
Nicky Brett and Greg Harlow. Greg Harlow won the title here six years | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
ago. And his opponent, Nicky Brett, got to the semifinal in 2010 and was | :22:40. | :22:46. | |
voted Players of the Year in 2015. Nicky Brett made a good start, | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
crowing the first set, which he won -- controlling the first set, which | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
he won 9-3. The second set was closer. We join it with the score at | :22:55. | :23:02. | |
three-all. Robert Paxton is now alongside David corkhill. | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
It's a good idea to go long because, for a while, he was dropping his | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
first bowl short. Now it's just a matter of getting it | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
close, up to the jack or beyond, to put the pressure on. He's not bad. | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
A decent start. If he doesn't get him with the first | :23:21. | :23:51. | |
one, he's usually adept with the second one, but... I think that's | :23:52. | :24:00. | |
the big difference at the moment. He's putting added pressure on. | :24:01. | :24:31. | |
Looks like he's going to get caught here. Well, no, he hasn't. He's | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
slipped underneath. He's going to make a connection with the red bowl. | :24:38. | :24:40. | |
Now, this is a problem for Greg. Does he draw this or come in and | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
attack the jack? I think he's got to draw it to be honest. There's not a | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
great deal to hit. Anything between the two green bowls probably gets | :24:51. | :24:52. | |
him the win. Played it very well. Yeah. Got it. | :24:53. | :25:09. | |
APPLAUSE There was a tiny bit of extra weight | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
on that to make sure he was arriving. | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
Forced into the runner. Doesn't want to get his own bowl, though. If he | :25:18. | :25:23. | |
takes that away, he could lose the count. Well, he has taken his own | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
away. I'm not sure about that shot. I wasn't sure it was worth while The | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
angles weren't great for Nicky there. But that's the way he's been | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
playing. It's been working extremely well for him the last two or three | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
years. There's a shot for Greg to have a | :25:43. | :25:45. | |
look at here on the cover. Drawn the shot there, on a backhand | :25:46. | :26:04. | |
and trying to drop it on some kind of angle. If he gets it there, it | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
stops the trail shot but it scores another one to make three and puts | :26:10. | :26:18. | |
the pressure on. It all depends how he feels about | :26:19. | :26:23. | |
it. He could get a third and cover, take a chance that he gets the jack. | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
I think he'll be backhand to the respot. Takes away the count to | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
three on the repot Nick's got to kill the end. | :26:33. | :26:40. | |
Well, he's on a line here for the third shot to put the pressure on. | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
He's ignored the respot for some reason. That's not too bad. It's not | :26:45. | :26:57. | |
bad, actually. It's not bad. That's a tricky draw. He ignored the cover | :26:58. | :27:06. | |
and decided to go for the shots. Well, he has to get close to those | :27:07. | :27:27. | |
front ones and that's where the problem lies. Yeah. Mmmm. I'm not | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
sure about that. I thought he might have played the backhand draw. But | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
that's a big count for Greg. Massive turnover... | :27:38. | :28:12. | |
It's unusual for Nick to be short when he has that big bowl | :28:13. | :28:19. | |
opportunity. But at the same time, after a drive, it's not easy, Rob. | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
You know it's a percentage shot, isn't it, to go through and run at | :28:24. | :28:27. | |
it? Take a couple off? Yeah, the angles weren't great there for him, | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
to be honest. Probably played the right shot. Just didn't quite get | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
through it. It's a big end for Greg now, if Greg can get a single here, | :28:38. | :28:41. | |
or any sort of score. It will certainly put him in the driving | :28:42. | :28:50. | |
seat for the second set. Well, he'd have given a lot for that the last | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
end. Do you get nervous before the big bowls come up? There's a lot of | :28:55. | :28:57. | |
them during your career? More so at the start of the game, I think. You | :28:58. | :29:01. | |
want to get into the game and once you're on the mat and into the | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
match, I don't think it bothers you really. The more times you play on | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
the carpet in front of crowds like this, the... You love them really. | :29:12. | :29:13. | |
Especially when they work! Well, he really cannot afford to | :29:14. | :29:29. | |
lose any more shots here, Nick. If gre Greg wins this end, then he | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
really is in the driving seat -- Greg wins this end, then he really | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
is in the driving seat. That's not going to get back. That's a lovely | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
should forehim now. An inch-and-a-half. Your... This front | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
bowl is five inches past jack high. Gap is six nmps. | :29:47. | :30:16. | |
A chance for Nick to slip another one in here. It drops off Greg's | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
bowl. It doesn't give Greg much Well, I'm surprised at that. I think | :30:22. | :30:38. | |
Greg's got a good shot on here in the backhand. A couple of yards | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
running into that plant, his own bowl will probably go out. He will | :30:43. | :30:45. | |
stay in and make two, maybe three out of it. I think he'll just draw | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
here. He can't afford to get into the jack hand, the green bowl. | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
That's true. If he drops off his own, he's very close, especially | :30:56. | :30:58. | |
with a three-shot lead. Oh, he's very close. He's getting | :30:59. | :31:06. | |
into that. Is he going to get the jack? If he gets the jack, he'll be | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
one down, probably. Oh, that's dropped in nicely. I think that's | :31:12. | :31:13. | |
the shot. He just got enough of it that his | :31:14. | :31:29. | |
own bowl stayed in. Nick has a choice. He'll run this down the | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
forehand, looking for the jack hand, clearing the ditch for two. | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
Controlled weight. He can't afford to be a bowl tight. And it does come | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
across: Oh, not the run-through. Oh! Goodness me! Well, immediate | :31:45. | :31:49. | |
acknowledgement from Nick that that was a fortuitous result. Two shots, | :31:50. | :31:55. | |
nick Brett. Oh! Made the double out of it! There's the run-through. Gets | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
the jack and makes a double. Goodness me. Well, there's | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
acknowledgement, yep. So Nicky Brett was just one shot | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
behind Greg Harlow and that margin was still the same as they | :32:10. | :32:12. | |
approached end nine. The tactics can change as well. Oh, | :32:13. | :32:40. | |
definitely. Nicky wins the end, wins the match. Greg needs to win it to | :32:41. | :32:45. | |
keep himself into it and force the tie-break. | :32:46. | :32:51. | |
I'd say he deserves that to be honest, on his performance in the | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
match. Fantastic game. Absolutely. It's been very interesting tactics | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
in it as well and there's been... Very little to choose between the | :33:02. | :33:02. | |
two players. Just pushing up. He's just got | :33:03. | :34:06. | |
through this. He's coming down to have a look and | :34:07. | :34:12. | |
I think it's very wise. I think he's got to look deep. | :34:13. | :34:19. | |
I think the issue for him is just if Greg decides to play it, we've got | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
all this area here where he's very, very dangerous. But at the same | :34:25. | :34:28. | |
time, I think that green bowl is too far away. | :34:29. | :34:33. | |
Yeah. You know, I think he -- I think he needs a closer bowl. If he | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
does go deep, it gives the option, if Greg draws shot, to play an | :34:39. | :34:42. | |
attacking bowl himself because he's got the cover. Yeah. He's going | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
through there. Greg's making his way down already. Greg will only be | :34:48. | :34:50. | |
drawing the shot. Yeah. I think it was the draw, I really do. But, | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
again, if he had put one close, Greg had the hit and, you know, it's | :34:56. | :34:59. | |
never easy to decide which shot to play there. You know, there's so | :35:00. | :35:02. | |
many options available but you just don't want to leave him a foot for | :35:03. | :35:06. | |
the shot. But there's no real rest there at | :35:07. | :35:09. | |
the moment either. There's no shoulder. It's the perfect bowl from | :35:10. | :35:16. | |
Greg. Well, he's very interested in it. | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
I think his line is good. He's just up again. He's just up. | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
Just the weight, that's all, nothing more than that. I think Nick might | :35:28. | :35:30. | |
draw this. I don't think he can afford to leave Greg a foot to draw | :35:31. | :35:35. | |
the shot. I'm not sure if he will. I don't think he can afford... If he | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
draws up and drops off his own bowl, he's giving that rest. Greg might | :35:40. | :35:43. | |
try and draw around the forehand. That would do, closer bowl either | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
way. It doesn't matter which way he plays it. The problem with the | :35:48. | :35:50. | |
backhand that Greg is playing at the moment is late bend. You know you've | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
got to be up and it doesn't, doesn't turn right till the end. | :35:56. | :36:03. | |
I think Nicky has done everything he can do... Oh. Has he left a | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
shoulder? No, he hasn't. That's no worse than it was before. And it's a | :36:08. | :36:13. | |
better and closer bowl. It's all about whether Greg decides to play | :36:14. | :36:15. | |
for the respot. That's the key. Who has got the | :36:16. | :36:23. | |
respot? And the respot we're looking at is the one to the left of the | :36:24. | :36:30. | |
picture. That's it there. Now, Greg is in a position where, if | :36:31. | :36:37. | |
he plays it, and gets it just absolutely on the high side, will | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
the jack come over to this side? And which bowl will lie? Oh, well, now! | :36:42. | :36:47. | |
I don't think that's made any difference to the shot. It's made a | :36:48. | :36:51. | |
difference to my graphics, but not to the shot. I think he's playing | :36:52. | :36:55. | |
for the jack still. It's possibly given him a little bit more space to | :36:56. | :37:04. | |
get to it but Nick has done absolutely everything he can do win | :37:05. | :37:07. | |
the match and it's up to Greg now if he can save it. The key is the two | :37:08. | :37:10. | |
respots, toness hoppest. There's even a chance now if Greg got... | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
He's looking at the other respot. There's a bigger gap now between the | :37:15. | :37:18. | |
jack and bowl. And down the forehand, he might be able to edge | :37:19. | :37:23. | |
the jack past the green. Let's have a wee look on the forehand. Time-out | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
called. Greg has no time-outs remaining. The respot position is | :37:28. | :37:33. | |
here. Greg is also looking to see what happens if it goes all the way | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
through to the ditch. Can he carry along with it? So many options but | :37:38. | :37:43. | |
none of thematically easy. He's looking at the angles and if | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
none are good, he's got to back himself to draw. He's got about | :37:48. | :37:51. | |
three inches. Surely he'll play weight to it. | :37:52. | :38:05. | |
Three bowls two or three feet away. Alan Thornhill is asking for a | :38:06. | :38:08. | |
little bit of quiet. Now we'll know what he's going to do. He's angled | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
as if he's going to draw. He is. He's going to try and draw it. The | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
angles weren't good for him. He didn't like the look of the respots. | :38:18. | :38:21. | |
He's going to try and draw it. I tell you what, he's in the area. | :38:22. | :38:28. | |
Needs to run a touch. Needs to run. Going to fall off, though. | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
One shot, Nick Brett. Second set, tie and the match. | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
What a great effort. If that bowl had dropped, it had a good chance of | :38:37. | :38:40. | |
getting the shot. Didn't quite make it. A brilliant effort, though, by | :38:41. | :38:45. | |
Greg Harlow. But the world number one just manages to make it. | :38:46. | :38:50. | |
First of all, Greg, always disappointing to lose at any stage | :38:51. | :38:53. | |
of a big tournament. How did you think you played today? | :38:54. | :38:59. | |
Overall, I was pretty happy the way I played. I perhaps could have done | :39:00. | :39:06. | |
more in the first set but every time I got in, Nick was closer and | :39:07. | :39:08. | |
deserved the first set. I thought I'd probably done enough to pinch | :39:09. | :39:12. | |
the second but didn't finish it off and left myself too much to do with | :39:13. | :39:15. | |
the last bowl. That's my analysis. LAUGHTER | :39:16. | :39:18. | |
Nicky, looking at the way the second set went, it looked as if you were | :39:19. | :39:22. | |
up against it, but you got the opportunities and would it be fair | :39:23. | :39:25. | |
to say that that's what turned it for new the second? I had a major | :39:26. | :39:32. | |
bit of fort up at 6-3 down, snuck a two where I played a poor runner | :39:33. | :39:38. | |
under the pace and I think them's the breaks really I got a huge bit | :39:39. | :39:42. | |
of luck where Greg looked like winning the second set. We're going | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
to look back at your last ball in the match. Here's a look at | :39:49. | :39:52. | |
something a little bit better. Yeah, there was too much room to keep | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
leaving him two and three goes at it so I had to try and get one near. I | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
didn't want to do it any earlier than that because I left a runner | :40:02. | :40:04. | |
and, you just touch easier to get out. Luckily it sort of finished | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
perfect to be honest. Greg, we're going to ask you if you don't mind | :40:09. | :40:12. | |
to go through your last bowl of the match because you had a chance to | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
stay in it at this point. I looked at all the angles. His two time-outs | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
-- I used two time-outs. There was nothing other than a perfect drive. | :40:22. | :40:24. | |
Nick had got everything covered and unfortunately for me I'm probably | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
about an inch tight and only just failed but, as you say, Nick's last | :40:29. | :40:32. | |
bowl was the winner. And proved to be so, even if my bowl had fallen | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
in, it was not quite going to win the day. And now to the first of | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
Friday's quarterfinals between qualifier Jamie Chestney and number | :40:42. | :40:45. | |
four seed Paxton packs. Here's what happened in that max -- Robert | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
Paxton from Taunton and chest dhes, also based in the West Country, at | :40:51. | :40:57. | |
Newton Abbott. It was a tight start, but Paxton | :40:58. | :41:01. | |
nudged clear by two with a brilliant draw to the jack in the ditch at end | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
six. That lead was extended to three | :41:07. | :41:12. | |
shots at end eight as Paxton's pin-point accuracy scale to the | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
fore. That left chest any needing a three | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
at end nine to -- Chestney needing a three at end nine to tie the set, a | :41:21. | :41:24. | |
scenario which always looked unlikely. | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
The Commonwealth Games silver medallist made a better start to the | :41:29. | :41:32. | |
second set, building a three-shot lead over the first two ends. | :41:33. | :41:39. | |
He was forcing Paxton into playing running bowls, which weren't proving | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
successful. But the set changed dramatically at | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
end five. First of all, Chestney's drive left the door open. | :41:50. | :41:59. | |
And Paxton duly rolled in for a full house, reducing his arrears to 5-4. | :42:00. | :42:05. | |
A couple of singles put Chestney back in the driving seat, but Paxton | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
stayed in the set with a perfect backhand runner at end eight. | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
He still needed an unlikely two at end nine to halve the set and win | :42:17. | :42:20. | |
the match. His draw to the respoted jack left a big gap for Chestney to | :42:21. | :42:26. | |
force a tie-break. It looked a formality, but the final | :42:27. | :42:34. | |
red bowl ran on and on. It handed Paxton an unexpected double and a | :42:35. | :42:37. | |
place in the semifinals for the fourth time. | :42:38. | :42:47. | |
The final score was 7-3, 7-7. And the last of our quarterfinals | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
was between another qualifier, Matthew Orrey, against a former | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
champion in David Gourlay. Matthew Orrey, 27, making his Potters debut, | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
actually defeated Paul Foster in the first round, so can already be proud | :43:00. | :43:03. | |
of his quarterfinal appearance here. His opponent, David Gourlay, in | :43:04. | :43:07. | |
contrast, has a wealth of experience behind him and won this title back | :43:08. | :43:11. | |
in 1996. Well, the winner of this match would | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
play Nicky Brett in the semifinals and he is now alongside Corky in the | :43:16. | :43:18. | |
commentary box. Matthew Orrey, the man from | :43:19. | :43:26. | |
Grantham, trying to keep the pressure on David Gourlay in the | :43:27. | :43:29. | |
second set. 4-2 behind, but it's a set he must win and this end is | :43:30. | :43:34. | |
absolutely critical to that quest for the second set. | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
The gap is 16 inches. No, the gap is 16 inches. | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
David just asking how far the jack is from the T mark. | :43:46. | :44:12. | |
How many players f they're one and two and three shots in front, if | :44:13. | :44:19. | |
they win the seventh end then win the set? It would be a very high | :44:20. | :44:22. | |
percentage. Good adjustment after the first one | :44:23. | :44:36. | |
dropping so far short. Even a single here would give Matthew a great | :44:37. | :44:39. | |
chance. Definitely needs to score the end. Otherwise it's... Well, | :44:40. | :44:43. | |
it's not over but it makes it very difficult. Well, he'll be chasing | :44:44. | :44:46. | |
the set in the last two. That's the trouble. He then needs to score four | :44:47. | :44:51. | |
shots in the last two ends if he loses a single. It's a bit far away | :44:52. | :45:03. | |
for David on that one. Not sure if he planned to put that past there. | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
If it is a plan, it's an interesting one. | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
Meantime, oh, wow. He's unlucky. On the target, on the forehand, there's | :45:14. | :45:21. | |
one element of risk for David Gourlay here, that he goes through | :45:22. | :45:25. | |
the gap and takes his own. But he would be very unfortunate to do | :45:26. | :45:32. | |
that. It will come in handy if he gets any jack movement. | :45:33. | :45:43. | |
Well... Um. Took one out but also took his closest bowl out. | :45:44. | :45:54. | |
He's lying two, fully expecting to draw another one here. He'll hope to | :45:55. | :45:59. | |
draw another but hope not to make it any easier for David's runner. I was | :46:00. | :46:03. | |
thinking he might play the backhand to just try and come in behind the | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
jack. He's trumped us, playing the forehand. Well, the thing about | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
playing the forehand is if he frames it on the forehand, David will go | :46:14. | :46:15. | |
again. As long as he makes it behind, it's | :46:16. | :46:25. | |
good. That's fine. Yeah, good bowl. To be | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
fair, good bowl. He might have played the backhand | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
just in case anyway. He'd be frightened of falling short on that, | :46:35. | :46:47. | |
giving David another chance. Down to the draw. | :46:48. | :46:54. | |
Rest on the ball for second. Yeah. It's good. | :46:55. | :47:02. | |
APPLAUSE He'd be happy enough with that. | :47:03. | :47:12. | |
One shot, Matthew Orrey. APPLAUSE | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
I think David would have been trying for the shot, but... He'd have | :47:18. | :47:20. | |
certainly took second walking back up to play it. I would say so, three | :47:21. | :47:29. | |
against him at the time. Well, a good crowd once again coming | :47:30. | :47:32. | |
in for the evening session, Nick. And still in there for Matt Orrey. | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
He's still got a good chance in this set. Yeah, he's, you know, after the | :47:38. | :47:43. | |
first set, he's still hung in there. He'd want to improve his first bowl | :47:44. | :47:47. | |
a little bit. But he's still in with a chance. | :47:48. | :48:10. | |
One thing about Matt Orrey, as you said, the first bowl hasn't really | :48:11. | :48:16. | |
been doing the damage you'd like it to do but he still looks very | :48:17. | :48:19. | |
comfortable out there. He looks like he's at home on the portable rink | :48:20. | :48:23. | |
and that's not always the case with the qualifiers coming through. It's | :48:24. | :48:27. | |
certainly not. Not... It's not every day of the week you play in front of | :48:28. | :48:34. | |
1,200 people and the TV cameras, and he's certainly handled himself very | :48:35. | :48:35. | |
well. No extra shots for that, just for | :48:36. | :49:02. | |
the non-bowlers that might be watching. | :49:03. | :49:21. | |
We're often asked about the spray chalk. Please forgive me if the | :49:22. | :49:28. | |
bowlers out there that know about it, there are an amazing amount of | :49:29. | :49:33. | |
people who ask about it during a match. | :49:34. | :49:42. | |
What would you do here? Take a little risk? I would now, definitely | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
now, with the third bowl. If he loses a single here, he's going to | :49:48. | :49:51. | |
be looking for a three in the last end and they're hard to find at the | :49:52. | :49:54. | |
best of times. I think he has to give it a chance and he is giving it | :49:55. | :49:58. | |
a chance in terms of the weight, but not in terms of the line, just over. | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
I can't blame him for that. You know... It's not an easy shot to | :50:03. | :50:06. | |
play. No, it's not. Definitely not easy to play, you know. He might | :50:07. | :50:10. | |
have to take a bigger risk and go quicker because it may be easier to | :50:11. | :50:14. | |
get it. Yeah. Go strong. If he takes his own bowl out, fair enough, | :50:15. | :50:17. | |
there's nothing he can do about that. But the angle for his own bowl | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
could easily take the other green one out. So definitely worth playing | :50:22. | :50:25. | |
it. David will just try and slip another one in. There's no reason | :50:26. | :50:29. | |
why he shouldn't because he'll be concerned about that one bowl | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
disappearing. Certainly will. Good weight with his second to be fair. | :50:35. | :50:42. | |
If he can bring her in... Well, he's definitely trying to draw one even | :50:43. | :50:46. | |
closer. But come around that bowl, it's still decent. It's still handy | :50:47. | :50:49. | |
there. I think Matthew has to go at this again and hope to get the bowl | :50:50. | :50:54. | |
out clean. If it stays as it is, he'd need a three last end and | :50:55. | :50:59. | |
they're not easy to come by and certainly in a closed set like this | :51:00. | :51:02. | |
one. Well, this is different. A lot less | :51:03. | :51:14. | |
weight. Must think he needs the double. I | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
tell you what, he's very close here, Nicky. He has to hold on to miss his | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
own. Oh! Well, great effort. Great effort. David will take the one. | :51:25. | :51:30. | |
He'll walk away interest that. -- from that. | :51:31. | :51:35. | |
One shot, David Gourlay. There's no way David Gourlay will play anywhere | :51:36. | :51:39. | |
near it. He's happy to go into the last end two up. He realises this | :51:40. | :51:44. | |
set has been very, very close. Yeah, definitely. | :51:45. | :52:36. | |
David needs a good second here, just to:! Even when you drop the first | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
one short, you're sort of thinking... Mmm, I I'd rather that | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
one would have been six inches away. Correct. Sort of blocked the | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
runner... His favoured runner to get out of trouble. He's played this | :52:52. | :52:55. | |
well. There's the correction. APPLAUSE | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
Yeah. I'd say he'd be happy with that one. It's a very, very good | :53:01. | :53:08. | |
ball. - - bowl. David just at the side of the rink | :53:09. | :53:12. | |
and Matthew Orrey takes his line from the marker. You can see the | :53:13. | :53:16. | |
yellow marker almost in the centre of the picture at this end. | :53:17. | :53:20. | |
And David Gourlay does that too, actually. He likes to see it as | :53:21. | :53:23. | |
well. Some players do. Some don't. Some | :53:24. | :53:29. | |
are what we call natural sighters. I might ask them to take them off | :53:30. | :53:37. | |
tomorrow then! If if only! Some players in the outdoor used to leave | :53:38. | :53:41. | |
their bags at the end of the rink on the line that they needed | :53:42. | :53:44. | |
their bags at the end of the rink on just to give them a little guide. | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
Let's put it that way. Very sneaky. As soon as you realised they were | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
doing that, we took them away and put them underneath a bench | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
somewhere! Little tricks of the trade, but certainly not at this | :54:00. | :54:03. | |
level. This is good again. Oh, that's a | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
beauty. That really is. Now it's really, really hard. Matthew | :54:09. | :54:11. | |
dropping short with his bowl. That's always making it difficult but this | :54:12. | :54:16. | |
is becoming almost impossible now for Matthew to develop a three. | :54:17. | :54:20. | |
David must have been curling the first one. Absolutely. The first one | :54:21. | :54:26. | |
he put in, I thought what on earth was going on. But he's banged them | :54:27. | :54:32. | |
in. Little chat with Mike Davies on the way through. Time-outs aren't | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
the issue. Matt was certainly looking to change something here. | :54:37. | :54:39. | |
Otherwise, he's going to be... Curtains. There's no point in even | :54:40. | :54:44. | |
trying to draw. I think he has to open it up at the front. If he | :54:45. | :54:48. | |
misses, it's going to be really hard. Just trying to time it round | :54:49. | :54:52. | |
the front. He probably is and that's a very difficult shot. He's in the | :54:53. | :54:55. | |
area, though. Oh, yes! What a good bowl! But the | :54:56. | :55:02. | |
back one will look on it -- lock on it and David Gourlay will be | :55:03. | :55:07. | |
absolutely delighted with that. It's a great bowl from Matt, but... It's | :55:08. | :55:14. | |
strange to think that a player would be delighted with the opposition | :55:15. | :55:16. | |
playing a super shot but that just about cancels out everything. Yeah. | :55:17. | :55:20. | |
It would be some shot to create, even from the position it's in there | :55:21. | :55:23. | |
now. Looks like it's a stay-away job. | :55:24. | :55:43. | |
Somethings around three feet jack high would be decent. If you want to | :55:44. | :55:47. | |
play a cover bowl in... Yeah. I'm not quite sure how... Unless he can | :55:48. | :55:52. | |
hit the front red on to the green and follow with a... Well, he's just | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
mixing and matching here, isn't he? APPLAUSE | :55:58. | :56:02. | |
There's just no way to create anything out of this. Do you know | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
something? If I was Matt Orrey, I'd be tempted just to shake hands. I | :56:07. | :56:12. | |
really would be. Yeah. You know, I just can't see anything and for | :56:13. | :56:16. | |
people at home watching this, I've got the world number one beside me | :56:17. | :56:20. | |
and he can't see anything. So I'm... If he makes three on this, David, it | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
will be shot of the day. Shot of the year! I would suggest shot of the | :56:26. | :56:50. | |
year. Good luck to Matt on this one. Big | :56:51. | :56:55. | |
hit and hope. And he's pulled it. There it goes. Won the red. Match to | :56:56. | :57:01. | |
David Gourlay. Well, David Gourlay, a very | :57:02. | :57:04. | |
professional performance against the qualifier, Matthew Orrey. Controlled | :57:05. | :57:08. | |
the first set 9-3. That scoreline was a bit unfair to Matthew but | :57:09. | :57:11. | |
David Gourlay gets through 5-4 in the second set. It was a difficult | :57:12. | :57:15. | |
set but he's over the line and he goes into the semifinal where he'll | :57:16. | :57:18. | |
meet the world number one, Nicky Brett. | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
Congratulations to David Gourlay, through to the semifinal where he | :57:23. | :57:27. | |
will play Nicky Brett and that will be live on the red button on | :57:28. | :57:31. | |
Saturday at the slightly later time of 10.45am. | :57:32. | :57:34. | |
And then we're on BBC One on Saturday at 2pm for the second of | :57:35. | :57:39. | |
our semifinals, Alex Marshall MBE up against Robert Paxton. | :57:40. | :57:43. | |
And now to the moment that you've all been staying up late for. | :57:44. | :57:51. | |
Corky's Shot of the Day. My shot of the day comes from the | :57:52. | :57:55. | |
match with Alex Marshall and Stewart Anderson. Alex Marshall was | :57:56. | :57:59. | |
fantastic in the first set, winning 10-2 but in the second set, Stewart | :58:00. | :58:03. | |
Anderson has scored 4-2, he's lying in the shot that would bring him | :58:04. | :58:08. | |
right back into it and Alex Marshall plays the most wonderful | :58:09. | :58:11. | |
controlled-weight shot. Most people would have tried to draw this and | :58:12. | :58:16. | |
turn the jack around the corner. But Alex Marshall decides to play the | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
punt shot all the way through, absolutely perfect, takes two shots, | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
and he lifts his score up to six shots 20 two, carry on with that and | :58:28. | :58:31. | |
won the second set comfortably. He was the master today. | :58:32. | :58:36. | |
Thanks very much, Corky. Now we know the identity of all four | :58:37. | :58:39. | |
semifinalists, but included in that quartet is Alex Marshall, who is | :58:40. | :58:43. | |
still on course for title number seven and very much the man to beat. | :58:44. | :58:48. | |
From all of us here at Potters, good night. | :58:49. | :58:59. | |
This is the story of how conquered superpowers conquered all. | :59:00. | :59:05. | |
How British classics became British clunkers... | :59:06. | :59:09. |