Melton bowler Les Gilett makes confident start to world singles bid

The Melton bowler won in straight sets in Tuesday night’s first round encounter at Potters to set up a second round meeting with five-time winner Paul Foster.

The 48-year-old, attempting to win the coveted title for the first time, was expecting a tough clash against the former national singles champion, who was making his first appearance at the event for 10 years.

But in truth he was barely pushed by his Wey Valley rival as he clinched a comfortable 7-5 9-1 success.

The pair have played each over a few times on the club and national circuit down the years, but while Gillett has maintained his prominence in the sport, Coleman has taken a back seat of late and his inexperience of the portable blue rink showed as he struggled to adapt to the unfamiliar surface.

Gillett, who was knocked out of the pairs competition with Jason Greenslade on Friday at the first hurdle, forged ahead early on, taking a 4-2 advantage after four ends and always keeping Coleman at arms’ length.

That lead duly became 7-3 with two ends to go, and while his opponent then enjoyed a couple of his best ends, Gillett still restricted him to just two singles and claimed the first set.

A couple of singles from each player suggested a close second set may be on the cards, but a big three on the third end from Gillett all but knocked the stuffing out of Coleman.

And from there it was easy street for the Holwell Sports ace, who raced off into the sunset to book a place in the last-16 next Tuesday.

There Gillett will be looking to avenge his semi-final defeat to Foster in the Scottish International Open in November.