07/02/2012 Bowls - Welsh Grand Prix

Of Monday was a topsy-turvy day at the Selwyn Samuel Centre, a great

one for a new national champion Damaen Dobbelaere. Mr Beaufort

Jason Greenslade. -- miserable for Today, Wales looks to the Scarlets

for inspiration as the two remaining Welshman played. It was

D-Day in Llanelly. Coming up tonight, the new Welsh champion,

Damian Dobbelaere, against 2010 Welsh champion, Greg Harlow. Also,

David Gourlay and the previous bridesmaid, Simon Skelton. Could

they go one better? Quick confirmation about how things

shaped up before the play to date. The only two upsets in the top half

The only two upsets in the top half both at the expense of top Welsh

seeds David Wheeler and Jason Greenslade. The only surprise in

the bottom, the defeat of another Welsh qualifier, Stewart Anderson.

First up, John Price. We caught up with him at the recent Wales

championships at Potters to find out how he gets himself in the mood

for Bacher, if the big day. -- the mood for a battle on the big day.

The difficult is the big gap between gains. -- the difficulty.

You need to relax between your games, and do not want to be in the

building all the time. You're building all the time. You're

looking after your own game, you need to be playing well yourself,

but obviously, there are tactics. You look at the length of jack the

opponent might play. He wanted maybe break up his red and if he is

a quick player. The first priority is to get yourself right and played

a wrong game. I am playing better than I have for some time, so my

confidence is good. I take it seriously and I want to win badly,

but it is not the be-all and end- all of the end of the day, and I

have had a good career and now when just playing for enjoyment if

anything. -- I am just playing. Today he was

up against Darren Burnett who won the 2010 Welsh Open in Swansea. The

match started in good humour with both players entering the rematch

in hard hats following some emergency work to the emergency

lighting. John had a good start, he was seven-one up in the first set,

but Darren Burnett hung on. The second set was much closer. We join

it in the ninth end. John is trailing 6-7 but has victory in

through. He pushed that well alt. - that one. Both players may be wise

to have a look at this. It depends which you trust. A hi-tech of the

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very good five. -- a very good guy. on this end, he earns a tie-break.

That is what it is all about. He is holding one. It is not like him

today. He was shaking his head. What do I do now, he was saying.

You do not want to leave it for John Price to ban one on the jack

with the first delivery. That is make any improvement. That helps.

That includes it aloft. It makes it much more difficult for John Price.

He now it needs to get within five side. Annie touch on the Jackal

help with the back Paul. -- on the real good look. Just to drop short.

There was a feeling this was going achieve. A big chance for John

Price. Expecting Darren to be close to what fat one. No disrespect to

the players if I say that this game has been pretty quiet. It has, but

you do get games like this. You have games where you have to grind

it out. It is not as if they were playing badly at all. There have

been many draws. It has not had cut and thrust, re spotted jacks, not

much of that at all. The second set has been a matter of drawing.

players have opted to try and draw. It has been such a tight game that

neither player has been prepared to take a brisk. They have run away

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from the conversion shots in case settles in front on the jack. Gives

Darren Burnett very little margin for error. I think Taran might try

to chop this bowl out. It will not be easy. -- Darren. At very hard

shot to play. He tried some runners and they did not bend for him.

has gone right into the open and John Price is wasting no time. He

himself a chance. He knows there is an acre of ground for John Price

and we would put our mortgage is on across and draw with not much

not want to be counted. normally go to the one that will be

the shot first. So, going to the red. The reason for that is if they

are right, they would be a gap between a measure and the bowl when

they come to the second. It looks well in. Four inches or so. Cutting

half metres from John prize. -- length here. At worst he has got

one more length to play after this. Taking a risk. Quite clever

thinking by John Price to do that. I do not think he is close enough

with his open air. 15 inches the umpire said. Darren Burnett should

be able to beat that with one of his four deliveries. Very slick out

there. Short jack length. David Gourlay watching this match with

interest. The legendary Scot, he is now the head coach for bowling

the bowl out of your hand at this distance. John Price definitely in

good news 2 Darren Burnett. By anything within 12 inches of the

jack is a fine. He had it in his mind that before the end of this

end, he will be attacking, so it is time to start doing so., acted to

get the jack back. -- come at it. He is in a lot of trouble her. --

now. A destructive shot 20 comes good now. -- John Price. He has

come through for a back position and Darren Burnett has choices to

make. If he goes again and takes a bowl out, it is really not enough.

He needs the jack and that is not this George jack has worked for

John Price. The trouble for Darren is, he has to get to the jack and

run it through. The bowl is no value to him. A small drawer at 25

and a half metres away. Just over three inches wide. He is going

again. Has he pushed it out wide? He has. He is in trouble now. That

did not look good off the hand. I think that John will go deeper with

this and stay away from it. It left his hand and it did not look good.

He knows that he can play better than that. And John prize surely

going for the best back bowl that will also be nearest to the spot.

You can cover both spots. Here it comes. Deep bowl. This is as good

as it gets for John prize. He is now in a match lie against the

world No. 3, Darren Burnett. I think Darren will have to draw this.

He did not seem to get those drives away well at all. As you said, the

first looked tired out of his hand. He did not miss that much, but he

was tied all the way down. The second one, not much of a chance.

It did not look right. You feel you will have to try and draw this. He

is going again. How on earth does he expect to get this? Closer again,

he has got something. I would expect John Price to get the shot

with the back bowl. We will wait and see, but I think that back

Paul... The match to John Price! do not see how Darren Burnett was

expecting to get that shot. He moved the jack, killed the jack,

the shot goes to John Price and he wins by a 2-0 on the tie-break.

lot has been said about the speed of this rink, that seems to be

the players have got to adapt. But we are all world-class players, we

have got to adapt. The has plenty of life left in you, isn't there?

I hope so, we will just keep it going. John Price there, rolling

back the years with a great performance. Great early bowls,

taking control of the opening set, but Darren is not to be denied,

with some great bowls himself. But John is playing really well. He

draws the third shot, to take the opening set. Darren takes the

second, with air for bowls. It is the tie-break and John takes the

opening end. -- what better bowls. Darren runs off the rink, and that

his game, set and match to John Price. Well played, the old man.

the next round, John Price will play David Gourlay, who survived a

scare against Nick Brett. Brett took the first set 9-, six up and

the second, and David Gourlay had one shot to stay in the

championship, so it went to a tie- break. Had Nick Brett missed his

opportunity? Experience one-two, with David Gourlay settling it in

the last end to advance to the quarter-finals. Now we turn our

attention to the bottom half of the draw, and another Welshman who has

a mountain to climb. World No. 2 Greg Harlow last won this event at

the turn-of-the-century. But he won the World Championships in 2010.

know nothing about David. I have never seen him play. He has won his

first Welsh titles Olly must be playing well, you must be very

confident. I will approach this game as if I was playing a number

one. They are study's new Welsh national champion, Damian Doubler

is in uncharted territory. Few youngsters ever have any fear?

Hopefully, we will gain some experience from this. A Greg Harlow

won the first set, 9-4, but Damian Doubler found his form and the

second, and we rejoin it in the 9th has battled hard and board says. --

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He is playing very well. We saw signs of that at the end of the 4th

set. MARKER: all three point five inches. He has to slow the game

down and make sure his concentration is 100% before he

plays the bowl. Pick out the shot you want to play and concentrate on

it. Just a little bit over. Good the match. -- Greg Harlow. And

perhaps significantly, it is Greg Harlow who has the last bowl of

this end. He is going for cover. I am not sure about that. The way

that Greg plays the game, can he draw this on the forehand, and

most destructive shot of all is the dead draw. That is why I thought he

might have played the forehand. That was then he could catch the

bowl on the jack, on the backhand, he is playing the jack towards the

green bowls. He will play this on the backhand. Harlow has position.

But Damian Doubler has the shot. needs something on the backhand.

plays with a very experienced players in Cardiff and the

International team. He knows the tactics of the game. Gently, gently,

he will want that to stop and cover it. He has pulled away. It is a

useful bowl and it might be of benefit, but it means that Greg

will now cover the forehand shot, to run the jack of, or to turn it

forehand drive. The re-spot position is for red. That is why he

will have to get to it. This is under, surely. MARKER: second set,

Damian Doubler. It is 7-6 to Damian Doubler in that second set. Greg

Harlow won the first set, 9-4. It is all in the next three ends.

Harlow took the first end of the tie-break. Damian Doubler had to

shot, for what it is worth. Now, what have we got, Damian? He cannot

believe it. He is short again. options are reducing with every

bowl. Because the art behind the jack is ewes 4. -- the yard behind

the jack is useful. He is giving Greg Harlow too many chances to get

to avoid the distance. His string has been on the draw, but if he

Looking at the drive, and the forehand. Only a cursory look. The

re-spot position is there. The way that he has been playing of late, I

think he will come in on the high side and try to drop in, for a draw.

He is a good pressure player, but the pressure is not on,

particularly, at the moment because he does have one bowl left, but he

does not want to play, you want to give it 100%, on the third delivery.

To force the opposition to have one bowl to save the tie. That is just

going under. But he has got second bowl. That will be invaluable to

him. One red. That means of that red disappears, Damian Doubler can

win the end. And that means Greg Harlow means -- needs another one

in. If things remain as they are, it will be a drive, next time,

surely. I expect quick to draw this. -- Greg. He needs another bowl in

That is the big question. It has not. You can see his reaction. He

knows that is a mistake. He has to drive this, now, surely. He's a

good drawer, but he has missed it, this time, surely. He needs to get

the bowl out absolutely clean, all the way through, he does that, the

short bowl, and he will score. The re-spot is on the far side. He does

not want the jack out there. could still put his faith in the

draw, if he wanted to, but surely it is a forehand drive. 100% on the

drive. Very controlled weight. It needs to stand up away from the

jack and miss the jack. He got the jack, and that is the problem. When

you get the jack back on the re- spot, it will be one, or to red.

Great bowl from Damian Doubler, he got his target, but unfortunately

not the jack out of play, and on the re-spot, Greg Harlow took the

shot. Two consecutive games and a tie-break to Greg Harlow and the

world number two is through to the second round. Played well all the

way through, but then I could do a lot more, and Damian kept coming

and coming and played it rates second set. My money was on the

third tie-break End but fortunately, for me, the jack went off and not

into the ditch. I came near to be competitive and I think I have done

that. Greg was outstanding and he deserves the victory. What a great

performance by Damian Doubler, the young Welsh singles champion. Greg

Harlow plays the better of bowls at the start but the main guesses draw,

good, and starts to pepper the jack. And it is Greg Harlow plays the big

bowl in the final end, to take the opening set. Damian, once again,

starts to draw well, but it is wrecker takes the set, and it is

the big bowl, the main ones that the jack, the jack goes off, and

that his game, set and match to It has been a funny old week for

the Welsh. Only one Welshman left standing and David Gourlay will be

playing him on to us there. Are you looking forward to that clash of

John Price? I enjoy playing John, we have met lots of time over the

last 15 years and we have had good, sporting games. Much is being made

of the speed of this rink. Can you explain what that means and how it

affects the game? The speed is the length of time it takes the bowl to

travel a certain distance. They have given this rank an extra

stretch so everything you stretch it, the faster the green gets. They

have stretched it very tightly this time. It means that the green is

very quick. It makes the degree of difficulty a lot more. But we

should be adapting to this by now. It seems to sit John's game. Does

it affect you as? I have played for a Australia for seven years and

their greens are traditionally very fast, so I have got experience of

playing on a fast green, and you prefer a fast been to a slow green,

and I think John does as well. on to Tuesday's last match. Simon

Skelton of Nottingham has been runner-up twice in the last three

years. This time, he is intent on going one better. Northern Irishman,

Jonathan Ross, who now represents Scotland, likes playing in Wales,

having reached the quarter-finals and the last two years. They were

at each other's heels throughout a tight match. Simon Skelton still

could not pull away in the second set. We join it in the nine end,

with Skelton leading 9--- 7-pack. - He has got to get three shots. He

cannot afford to waste any. That is a good opener. It was critical that

Simon Skelton did not lose the jack. Jonathan Ross has been able to play

his favourite jack length. It is not easy to get around this green

bowl. Here it comes, sweeping back. He was not a very close with the

first two bowls and he is going to have two shots against him when he

gets to his third delivery. That mistake with the jack could be very

the forehand, Simon, or else attack tie-break situation. If Simon loses

a three in this end. If he drives at it and takes the one a way, it

would certainly help. If he takes his own bowl away, he is a lot of

trouble. He can draw the forehand or he can attack it but if he takes

his own bowl away, he is in deep trouble. He is a very attacking

player. He is playing a very delicate backhand shot. This must

be absolutely perfect to be a drop, it needs to drop, I think.

Which makes life more difficult by Jonathan Ross, Matt. -- now. The

game started so well for Jonathon Ross. If he draws another shot here,

he is in with a great chance. Just trying to fade onto the backhand

onto the green bowl. This is what he is looking for. If he taps his

own bowl in, he could make a double, but he has to reach it. That is

very disappointing and Jonathon Ross. -- from Jonathan. That will

come as a great relief to Simon Skelton. Simon knows he has to be

careful. If he drops on his own bowl, that is a massive help. He

doesn't want to sweep into the red bowl, because that would give

Jonathan two. He needs a close a bowl. -- closer bowl. I don't think,

the way that it is sitting at the moment, that it is secure enough

for Simon Skelton. He could even push his own green bowl out and

give two shots away, and a chance for Jonathan Ross to draw a third.

It is not easy. He's not going for the forehand, is he? This is going

to have to be a very wide arc, if he is playing this. He is leaving

that on the backhand, were drawn up into play. This has to be very

accurate, to get back. He has done his best, but he has given John it

and a great chance. Perfect line. It came back all the way to the

centre line of the rink. It was just overplayed by about 15 inches.