JERSEY’S Christine Grimes has rocked the bowls world by taking the scalp of the world’s greatest exponent of singles play – twice Commonwealth Games champion Siti Zalina Ahmad, from Malaysia.

While John Lowery and Gaynor Thomas are flying Jersey’s flag in the World Indoor Bowls Council (WIBC) championships in Belfast, today, Grimes is competing in the World Bowls Limited (WBL) World Cup in Warilla in New South Wales.

The clash between these two events provides more evidence that the world bodies do not talk to each other – but, on a more sinister level, it seems likely that the WBL are seeking to squeeze the life out of the WIBC.

Grimes, who faces a gruelling schedule of nine group games down under, is determined to finish in the top four in her group to qualify for the quarter finals – but she made a disappointing start yesterday, when she lost to Scotland’s Kay Moran and American youngster Rosa Gandara.

Pipped 6-5 in the first set by Moran, who won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne last year, Grimes bounced back to win the second, 7-4, only to be beaten on the third end of a tense tiebreak.

Then, against Gandara, a quarter finalist in the WBT women’s singles and mixed pairs at Potters in January, she won the second set at a gallop, but was again beaten to the punch in the tiebreak as the American won, 11-6 5-12 2-0.

This morning, however, she confounded the critics by returning a 13-2, 7-4 card against Ahmad, who epitomises the success story of bowls in Malaysia, where an intensive coaching programme has turned what was a group of promising novices into world-class players.