In the last match of the opening day of play, Scotland’s MBE duo Paul Foster and Alex Marshall showed their class and spelt out loud and clear why they are regarded as the World’s top partnership. They played every shot in the book and overcame the new Scottish pairing of Darren Weir and James Rippey.
All four players quickly found their line and length with Marshall in particular playing some telling shots from the beginning right to the end before signing off with a one sided 9-2, 10-1 victory and only dropping three ends in the entire match.
Looking relaxed, Marshall said “To be honest, I don’t think the scoreline reflected on the quality of the match. I think Darren and James played exceptionally well. We had to really pull out some big shots on more than a few occasions.
“The key was the opening ends. We quickly got to grips with the rink and that gave us a lot of confidence. It’s not an easy rink to play at times, but everything just came together tonight.
Foster confided “I feel that’s the best we’ve played together for a long time. We were relaxed. It was strange playing without the noise of an audience but we knew we had a job to do and just got on with it. Fair play to Darren and James they played exceptionally well but we always felt in control”.
Foster and Marshall return to the portable rink on Sunday and will face up to England’s Simon Skelton and fellow Scot Mike Stepney.
* The remaining four 1st round pairs matches will be decided Saturday 9th January, with all quarter finals played on Sunday 10th.
‘JUST’ WORLD INDOOR PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1
Paul Foster MBE & Alex Marshall MBE (Scot) bt Darren Weir & James Rippey (Scot) 9-2, 10-1