Quarter Finals Bowls - Welsh Grand Prix

Only eight bowlers are still standing. Only one surviving Welsh

man. But there are five other world champions. All pursuing the same

goal, but only one can win this year's Welsh Grand Prix.

It is six Nations season but here we are down to three. For Scots men,

three English men and a Welsh man. Today was quarter-finals day when

eight would become four. We could only hope that getting to the semi-

finals would not be a bridge too far for John Price. Coming up,

friend should put aside as the World pairs Championship went head

to head. And Wayne Hogg against the world champion Mervyn King. And

this year's Scottish winner against an two-times Welsh runner up. The

remaining Welsh man, John Price, was in the top half of the draw. On

paper possibly the easier route to the promised land. But before

stepping closer to getting his hands on the trophy, he had to

overcome the Peter Pan of World Bowls - David Gourlay. The Scotsman

had an easy first-round right against Irish man Simon Martin but

his next match against Nicky Brett was a completely different story.

He scraped through in an last end tie-break. John Price has had a

slightly tougher route. Asset half in round one followed by a hard-

earned victory against the former world champion Darren Burnett.

David Gourlay started impressively taking the first set. But John was

determined to put up a fight in front of his supporters and started

the second set by storming into an early lead. Then it became a tale

of three shot ends. David Crawley taking three in the 4th and as we

join it in the 7th, John holds a join it in the 7th, John holds a

slender lead. That single to John Price gives him

the chance of a tie-break ahead. Now is the time for him to get his

head down and head for the line. He start. Price the elder statesman,

of course. The father figure, almost, of Welsh bowls at the

Kent, which appears to be the wrong hand. Well the rink is so wide that

it is not a problem to get around possibly eat more surprising. He

has dropped short. And a little on the narrow side. Not a big problem

between the two bowls. If it is between two or three inches you can

punch one onto the other which is very much his style of shot. He has

not played the runners all that successfully in this match, they

have been intermittent. He needs to be a bit more accurate. But he is

close this time. He has got it, right in the middle. Absolutely

perfect. And that is a difficult shot under any circumstances.

Absolutely clinical. It really is spending. Nothing else moves apart

from the green. Out it went. good as an example of the timing

weight shot as you will ever see. Price's last bowl at the end, of

course. Looking good. He is through the gap, and it has run away! That

was desperately unlucky. John Price cannot believe it. It is one of

those shops when you're thinking, a touch on the edge, just anything to

get it. But then to actually run away as well. He thought he had got

wants to try to get to the jack and give it a nudge. He has made sure

one that went sideways! Alan three in the eighth. He had to win

the last end to stay in the match. Usually John's first bowl has been

good at this distance. Looking at his face, he was not happy at all.

For a straight sets win. That is loose. David would have been hoping

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 40 seconds

Now he is encouraging the ball back. I would not be surprised if John

Price does not take any risks and plays through it.

Thinking about the manner. -- runner.

Having a go. I thought he had it On The Run through. That would have

been cheeky! That things are getting serious for John and

serious for Wales. This was his attempt, it looked good and then

one in at the back. He does really have the advantage here because he

David Gourlay, in more ways than one. Is John Price going to draw

the short? He could trail it. And he can still ditch it if he wants

to. It is hard to play that in between shot. He is closer this

time, much closer. It has gone sideways across the rink. We want

confirmation that it is a Red Bull hold in shot. John will take a look

at it but I think if it is against him, he will know. David Gourlay

once the shot but as yet John has not conceded it. So David, to be

certain, will have to go back and deliver a bolt and should be able

to get the shot. We have seen these Mr before. -- missed. Do not even

contemplate playing and the narrow get back from their? That is a bad

miss. He cannot believe that. this goes against him, that is a

think it is green. You would not see a closer measured than that.

The red has won the measure by a millimetre and that was enough to

put David Gourlay through to the semi-finals of this Welsh Grand

Prix. In it straight sets. David Gourlay, the Scot, is the winner

and John Price unlucky on the day. and John Price unlucky on the day.

So close with that last bowl. first two were not good enough. I

did not give myself a real good chance with the first two, that was

a problem. You thought you had the measure, but it was very close.

was a lot closer than we thought. It was a bad last bowl but closer

than I thought. It is a disappointing day for John Price.

David Gourlay starts on the first end, plays a good ball, makes a

good start. John price comes back fighting. And picks up the good

treble. He is happy now. But it is David Gourlay who plays the big

bowls in the opening set. Second set, John Price starts it well. And

once again David Gourlay plays the big bolt in the second set. Welsh

hopes have disappeared. John Price slices and Jack, it is all over and

David Gourlay it is through to the semi-final.

And in the next round David Gourlay meets the winner of the other

quarter-final in the top half of the draw - Mervyn King against

Wayne Hogg. Mervyn King beat Scottish Open winner Robert Paxton

in the first round and followed that with another straight-sets

victory against Caledon lutein in the second round. Wayne Hogg has

defeated world runner-up Jason Greenslade as well as last year's

world champion, Mark Royal, on his way to this year's quarters. Mervyn

King took the first set 9 - 7 but Wayne Hogg came back to take the

second convincingly. We were into a tie-break and true to form, it went

on the result of this last end. the last end of the tie-break.

Players have the option to replay the end. It will not go on the we

spot, unless they don't nominated. That's the only time. They will be

aware of that. Wayne Hogg will definitely have to be aware of it,

he could have got on that one, but a very good at running bowl.

Normally you would say, that's good, he has got rid of one of the

counters, but on the tie-break End, you can't afford to drop even one

Mervyn King at the moment, holding two shots. But he wishes he had the

last bowl on this end it. Wayne Hogg, clipping that, has made it

safer for King. It's a really bad position in many ways, for Mervyn

King. Yes, he can't negate all the options. Yes, he just wants to

split the reds and hope he does not pull away too much. Well, he has.

There is a chance here for Wayne Hogg. He was so close on the last

two or three occasions. He is driving down. Oh, he is in the area

almost a sensational bowl from Wayne Hogg. Just watch it again.

Look at the contact. He gets one green bowl on the other, but one of

them stays in. And that is the bowl which gives Mervyn King a victory

over Wayne Hogg. Revenge for King, and he is through to the semi-

The last end, a tie-break, I did not know what to do, to be fair. I

thought I might have a chance for two bowls. It's nice to get over

the line. Let's move on to the bottom half of the draw, and next

up, the world pairs partners, Alex Marshall and Paul Foster. Terry

Griffiths has popped over from across the road in the Llanelli.

You have a lot of players in your stable, how do you advise them when

they are friends and they have to play against each other at this

stage of the competition? It's not ideal, obviously, with good friends,

but I think the French up finishes when they go out on to the bowling

rink. You have a bit of edge between the two friends. I dare say

they are very good friends. It doesn't make any difference when

you go out there. They don't take that into account. For instance,

with Mark Williams and Stephen Hendry, who are in my team and

played a lot together in finals, they hated losing to each other,

more than anybody else, so I think it motivates them a bit. I suppose

they know each other's game inside out, don't they? They do. At this

stage the tournament, at this standard, it's all about the mind.

They are excellent players and know what they have got to do. It is the

man with the clear mind two plays the shots correctly who wins

normally. Thank you. Let's remind ourselves how they got to the

quarter-finals. Paul Foster seems to have recovered from the shock of

his first-round exit. He beat Billy Jackson in a tough encounter last

Yesterday, Alex Marshall celebrated his birthday in style. He beat new

world champion Andy Thomson in a tie-break finale. The standard at

the start of the match live up to its billing with a barely

believable three touches in the very first end, meaning nobody

scored any shots. Forster on to take the first set, 9-3, but the

second was a much closer affair. We join it in the second end of.

curling around behind the jack. easy for him, by any means. Here is

fall off. He will be disappointed with that. Good at that. A shake of

the head. One day that sort of shot will fall in for you, and another

an amazing bowl By Paul Foster. Absolute perfection. It's possibly

three. No. On the other hand, it might only be one. The movement on

the jack there, has brought the players and the officials are bound

to have a close look at it. I don't know if that was a second which was

taken, Ray. Mike Davis will sort this out. Greener bowl against the

two red. Calipers. They are being shots to Paul Foster.

in terms of the top 16, but it's amazing to think he is still

playing good bowls, and he has man like Alex Marshall might be

slipping out of the top 16. That was a possible scenario, but he has

got enough ranking points from this event two avert a disaster. We will

slide from 7th in the world to a provisional, going to this

tournament, number 15. But, of course, getting through to the

quarter-final will help quarter-finalist yet. There is

another one after this one and if Marshall could score two shots here,

he would need another two on the a chance on the green one. Just

drop it or turn it on the jack. I thought it was better than that. I

thought it would go to the green one but it's another second and its

for Marshall with this, his final delivery of the end. Well, it's

green if he can. Oh, he's on the wrong side. That's not going to

help. Two to Paul Foster and the winner. When they replace it on the

spot, we will see it is maybe three shots to Paul Foster. That is

enough to see him through to the semi-final. Without having to play

jack of the rink and that's not what Alex Marshall wanted, at all.

It comes back and it is three shots to Paul Foster, 11-5 in the second

set. The first, 9-3. Paul Foster through to the semi-final of the

I wanted to play well. At the end of the day, we are only human

beings and we can't hit the jack all the time but I thought there

was a classy game. I was happy with the way I played this week. 9-3,

11-five, not much in it. It shows how well he played today. The clash

of the Scottish titans. Alex Foster and Paul Marshall. He plays good at

drawing balls. Alex it goes off. It's hard work out there, Alex. He

takes a double and security. The second set, once again, Paul Foster

is dominant with the draw. Alex, unhappy and he gets himself back

But Paul Foster plays the bowl of the day and secures the winner.

Paul Foster through to move semi- Who he would read in the semi-final

would depend on the last quarter final result. And all English

affair. Greg Harlow only just got through his first round encounter

with Damien Doubler but yesterday proved he was at the top of his

game. Nottingham's Simon Skelton has crept quietly into the last

eight and, beware, he has been at the end up here, twice in the last

three years. -- runner up for the Harlow's start of the game taking

the first set, 13-3. But Simon Skelton was a difficult proposition

in the second. We were in to another tie-break and, once again,

out. Call it what you will, be careful. He does not want to bounce

the jack back to Greg. It shouldn't be that heavy but still let the

bowl drift back in. It might change they come up to have a look at this.

to try to drop it in, preferably in front of the jack. That would be

as given it the edge of the jack not full. If he gets the jack clean

into the ditch, well, he will be shaking hands. He has got to hit

the red bowl. He is very close to a clean jack here. Very close indeed.

Oh, it has bounced a couple of times and I tell you what, it won't

picking the jack up and putting it in the ditch. He was looking at the

options. Oh, the jack was going to the right and certainly it went to

the left. I think he would have destroyed the end, but it's not the

bowl in the ditch. It is still alive because it touched the jack

on the green. That's why it has not been lifted out. And that is the

one at that Simon Skelton has to eat without losing his bowl into

the ditch. This is a very tight shot to play. Greg earlier played a

very good bowl. He's a long way out there. He may as well adopt into

the ditch, but he so far away. That drop into the ditch. -- dropping to

the ditch. He is the best part of now and say he needs to put four

same time. Away from the jack on the narrow side. He will settle to

This could be the one to beat. comfortably. He has played this

tie-break very well indeed. I think we have watched him play the two

bowls which would get him into the final. Now the last bowl, which

went to the very edge. Another shot on for Simon. I don't think he will

attempt to try to draw it. Well, what else can he do? I think he has

to give himself a chance to punch the bowl off. But he has got to

stay on the green. He does, but there are so little margin to try

to draw it. Punched the bowl into the ditch, stays in place and hopes

he gets a good connection. To draw within 7-9 inches to the jack, on

the edge of the ditch, that is just too difficult. Well, Greg Harlow

here. He is doing the right thing, going off to get a drink, compose

himself. Takes a walk up, comes back. The last bowl of the game,

effectively. He has got to go through his cockpit drill from the

beginning. Oh, he is looking for his front toucher. He must have

worked out it will bring in the toucher. Oh, goodness me. I did not

think the angle was right on that. A great effort. I would love to see

that as well. If it had gone in the ditch, Simon Skelton was confident

it would have gone in the right place to count and win him the

match. He just missed it. A bit wide, and big smiles all round.

Greg Harlow wins a very exciting and action-packed quarter final by

I played the last four as a tie- break ends, basically. It did not

come off for me but it's good practice for the next three.

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