22 January, 2017
In the second semi, Auchinleck’s Claire Johnston teamed up with world number 1 Nick Brett and turned out to face the all English pairing of Amy Stanton and Greg Harlow.
It turned out to be a crowd thrilling semi as the two pairs slugged it out in the first set, the scores being 5 all at the end of the 5th. Into the 6th end it was Brett and Johnston that took a single to go 6-5 up but it was Harlow and Stanton that fought hard with some brilliant bowls from Harlow to grab a double and first set 6-7.
It looked as if it was going to be a straight sets win for them as they powered through the second set to go 2-6 up in the 4th end but then Brett and Johnston turned the tap to full on as they battled their way with some outstanding bowls and tactics over the next three ends to take 6 shots away from Harlow and Stanton and the second set to force a tie break and they kept that momentum going in the tie break where they won 2-0.
A disappointed Harlow said “We went off the pace a bit in the second and just couldn’t slot the result away. We had our chances but it just didn’t happen. We didn’t take them when the opportunity arose”.