Mervyn King suffers agonising defeat in World Matchplay Mixed Pairs

MERVYN King bowed out at the semi-final stage of the World Matchplay Mixed Pairs after an agonising defeat on Sunday.

King – who was last night due to face Jonathan Ross in the singles – teamed up with Guernsey’s Ali Merrien in the mixed pairs.

After beating David Gourlay and Debbie Stavrou in the first round, King and Merrien faced Darren Burnett and Karen Murphy with a place in the final at stake.

Burnett, a Tayside police officer, had Australia’s Murphy, who won three gold medals in the world outdoor championships in Adelaide last month, at lead, and they edged home, 8-3, 3-13, 2-1, in a thrilling contest that went down to the wire.

King and Merrien came so close to victory that they both used the same word to express their feelings – gutted.

“I know we didn’t start very well, but we pulled ourselves together, and did enough to win that game,” said Merrien.

“Mervyn played some magnificent bowls, including the out-of-this world draw that won us the second end of the tie-break.”

Curiously, Merrien and King seemed to have the first end of the tie-break all sewn up when Burnett sent the jack into open space, and King, for once, was short in his attempt to draw the shot.

Then, Murphy and Burnett dominated the second tie-break end, before King got the winner with a wonder bowl that was the last bowl of the end.

Finally, Merrien set up what looked like a winning position on the sudden death last end, only for Burnett to draw the shot with the very last bowls of the match.

For a report on King’s second round singles match last night, see www.fakenhamtimes24.co.uk