Mervyn King, a local Estate Manager from Stiffkey in Norfolk came through his opening match of the Imagine Cruising World Indoor Bowls Open Singles Championship against Canadian qualifier Dylan Jacobs, a cook from the Woodstock Lawn Bowling Club in Ontario, in the second match of Day 7 at Potters Resorts.
King, currently standing at 14 on the WBT Ranking List, won this title in 2006, beating Robert Paxton 2-1 in a tie break.
Earlier today he started that journey to regain the crown and looked in great form when he took the first set 12-4.
However it was a different story in the second set, with Jacobs hitting back from 0-3 down after the first two ends but then rolling in a 1, 3 and 1 to take a 5-3 lead.
The match swayed one way then the other, tying at 5-5 after six ends and 6-6 on the penultimate end.
Jacobs held a set lie but King responded to count the vital shot with his third delivery but it was a disappointing finish for the Canadian, whose last bowls fell agonisingly short to leave King as the winner 7-6.
King's 2nd Round match will be against 2022 champion Les Gillett, but as the Mixed Pairs and Ladies Open Singles gets underway for the next few days, they won't cross swords until Wednesday 17th January at 10am.
RESULT Imagine Cruising World Indoor Bowls Singles - Rd 1 Cont'd.
Mervyn King (Eng/14) bt Dylan Jacobs (Canada/Q):
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