Mervyn King suffers more misery at World Indoor Bowls Championships

Mervyn King’s miserable run at the World Indoor Bowls Championships was completed when he crashed out of the mixed pairs at the first hurdle on Friday.

King, who plays for the Gallow Bowls Club in Fakenham, and his Aussie partner Karen Murphy took on Welsh hope Kerry Packwood and world number one Paul Foster, from Scotland, at the Potters Leisure Resort.

But local supporters, who were hoping that the Norfolk man might make it into the semi-finals, were disappointed as King and Murphy were beaten 5-11, 9-5, 2-1.

Murphy was sensational at lead, and King was no slouch at skip, and they looked set for victory when they won the first set, 11-5. At 5-5 in the second set they held two shots that would probably have been enough to see them home in straight sets.

A brilliant last bowl from Foster turned two down into two up, and another double on the last end sealed the set, and took the game into a tense best-of-three-ends tie-break.

On all three ends, Murphy and King established good positions, but the canny Foster turned things around on the second and third ends to steal victory.

n The idea that bowls is a game for the older generation took a severe knock on Sunday when the Norfolk indoor bowls senior team took on a team from Cambridgeshire in the Eastern Counties League, hosted at the Gallow Indoor Bowls Club.

The Norfolk team selections were from players of any age, but included in the squad of 16 were six players still at school. The match concluded with Norfolk winning on all four rinks.

Gallow juniors Rhys Morgan and Daniel Cawthorne were selected and maintained their excellent recent form with impressive performances.