MARTIN Selway was the worthy winner of the second North Wilts Open Singles tournament last weekend.

But the Welshman from the Islwyn indoor club, near Caerphilly, Gwent, was the villain for the watching crowd, proving a party pooper as he defeated home player Jean Collier by two sets to love in the final.

Corsham resident Collier, who plays indoors for North Wilts but outdoors for the Box club where she is secretary, only stepped into the tournament field the night before, following the withdrawal of Torquay United’s John Evans.

Collier though enjoyed a rollercoaster ride on Sunday's day two, collecting prize scalps on the way to the final.

She had the consolation of pocketing the runners-up cheque for £500.

Selway began with two 2-1 victories in tie breakers on the Saturday over Steve Roberts (York) in the preliminary round and Ray Cutting (Pinewood Park, Sheringham, Norfolk) in round one.

On Sunday he beat Clarrie Dunbar’s Brian Hawkins 2-0 (8-1, 8-0), had a last 16 2-0 (6-1,9-4) win over Paul Sharman (Carterton) and another  2-0 (6-5, 7-6) success over Martin Timms (Welford-on-Avon, Warks) in the quarter-finals.

Selway had to dig deep in the semi-final against Shaun Jones (Malvern Hills, Worcs), winner of the 2014 planetbowls Grand Prix play-offs title and last season’s Barwell Open singles, who had knocked-out Steve Tuohy, the number one planetbowls.com-ranked player this season to lift the £50 bounty hunter prize.

He lost the first set 6-1 and the first end 2-0 of the second set but then hit back to take the second set 7-4 and force a tie breaker, winning that on his last wood 2-1.

Collier won her  first round game on the Saturday against John Lopes (King George Field, Chessington, Surrey) 2-0, but it was on day two (Sunday) she set the home crowd alight.

She began with a round two 2-1 (6-4, 1-6, 2-1) victory over Dolphin’s (Poole) Carl Fountain, recent winner of the Clarrie Dunbar Open before a 2-1 (2-7, 6-5, 2-1) last-end success over Westlecot’s Mike Titcombe.

In the quarter-finals she downed Scott Edwards (Adur, Southwick, West Sussex), the 2013 Grand Prix runner-up and 2014 Adur Open champion and ranked 28th this season in the planetbowls list, 7-3, 6-6.

The fairytale continued in the semi-final as Collier outbowled Martin Shepherd (Chipping Norton), who had beaten recent Bristol Open winner Ryan Atkins in the previous round, 2-0 (8-5, 6-4) to book a place in the final with Martin Selway.

“I never expected anything like this, it is unbelievable, what an incredible day,” said an exhausted Collier.

“I was so nervous when I went on the green for my first match (against John Lopes), my goal was to get on the scoreboard and not get whitewashed by him.

“That goal was achieved and the first round win was a bonus.”

She added: "I was still very nervous on the Sunday. I must have been running on auto pilot and still can’t believe what has happened but the crowd certainly helped to lift me.

“But by the time we reached the final I was exhausted both mentally and physically and the adrenaline had run-out. I have never played so many competitive ends and that amount of woods in that period of time.

“But I have really enjoyed myself, done far better than my wildest hopes and certainly boosted my confidence for the future.”

Last year’s North Wilts Open winner Keith Bailey (Clarrie Dunbar) lost an extremely tight last 16 match 6-6 4-5 against Edwards.

Tournament director Dave Williams declared the Open another resounding success, saying: “It was as good, if not better, than last year’s inaugural event.

“We can confirm we will be staging another, our third planetbowls tournament, on the same weekend next year.

“We started with 72 players from all over the country including some of the higher ranked circuit leaders.

“It was an excellent performance from Martin Selway who bowled extremely well over the two days to end up winning the final.

“Our local girl Jean Collier who came in as a last minute reserve played her heart out right through to the final.

“A big thank you must go to our sponsors Bowlamania, Corsham Print, Beazer Electrical Services, Chippenham Conservatories and Windows, Wadworth Brewery as well as the Wiltshire Gazette & Herald who all helped to boost our prize fund to £2,350 and the club members who gave their invaluable help to organise and run this event throughout the weekend and of course the two umpires.”

The tournament matches were played over two sets of seven ends. If games were tied a best of three ends tie breaker was used to determine the winner.

RESULTS Last 16 (round three): Dave Snell (Westlecot) lost to Steve Tuohy Egham) 0-2 (2-7, 3-5); Brian Lees (Welford-on-Avon) lost to Martin Timms (Welford) 1-2 (2-8, 7-2, 1-2); Nick Revell (Bournemouth) lost to Martin Shepherd (Chipping Norton) 1-2 (5-5, 8-8, 0-2); Shaun Jones (Malvern Hills) beat Neil Smith (W’lecot) 2-1 (6-3, 7-8, 2-0); Martin Selway (Islwyn, Wales) beat Paul Sharman (Carterton) 2-0 (6-1, 9-4); Mike Titcombe (W’lecot) lost to Jean Collier (North Wilts) 1-2 (7-2, 5-6, 1-2); Ben Paulley (B’mouth) lost to Ryan Atkins 0-2 (3-9, 4-5); Keith Bailey (holder, Clarrie Dunbar) lost to Scott Edwards (Adur, West Sussex) 0.5-1.5 (6-6, 4-5).

Quarter-finals: S Jones beat S Tuohy 1.5-0.5 (5-4, 4-4); J Collier beat S Edwards 1.5-0.5 (7-3-6-6); M Shepherd beat R Atkins 2-0 (8-5, 7-6); M Timms lost to M Selway 0-2 (5-6, 6-7).

Semi-finals: S Jones lost to M Selway 1-2 (7-4, 6-7, 1-2); M Shepherd lost to J Collier 0-2 (5-8, 4-6).

FINAL: M Selway beat J Collier 2-0 (10-1, 8-2).