EDDIE BATES will long remember the "nightmare" end that cost him his chance of becoming English Indoor BA over-60s singles champion yesterday.

The unsung Riverside bowler battled through to the semi-finals at Nottingham and was equal to the toughest test of the tournament when disaster struck.

The 64-year-old retired Civil Servant was level at 16-16 after 20 ends against reigning champion Bill Bell until dropping a three.

Things got little better on the next end - Bates ran the jack into the ditch and thought he had scored two shots only to find he was one down after a measure.

That put Bell 20-16 ahead and the County Durham player duly gained the vital shot on the next end to go through to the final.

Bates at least had the consolation of losing to the eventual champion as Bell retained his crown 21-14 against Ernie Austin (Wey Valley) in the final.

He said: "I will have nightmares about that 21st end for a long time - I had my chances to win and I blew them.

"But overall, I really enjoyed myself at the tournament and I was delighted to have reached the semi-finals of a national championship."

Bates, the first Riverside member to play in the national stages of an English championship, had opened with a 21-20 victory over Eddie Furze (Clevedon, Bristol) after winning a last-end decider and then indulged in a game of three halves against Peter Reynolds.

Bates led 13-3 but stayed stuck on that unlucky number as his Eastbourne opponent surged 15-13 ahead.

However, Reynolds did not score again as Bates triumphed 21-15.

Hampshire's Mathew Marchant duplicated Bates's performance in the under-25 championship held at the same venue. The Victory player also reached the semi-final before bowing out 21-18 to Simon Jones (Desborough, Maidenhead) who lost the final 21-16 to Neil McKee (Kingsthorpe, Northampton).

Again, like Bates, Marchant had his chances. He led Jones 13-8 after 12 ends, but then lost eight of the next ten ends to his 16-year-old Berkshire opponent.

Earlier, the Hampshire youngster had beaten David Bolt (Sunderland) 21-19 and Treve Evans (Gedling, Nottingham) 21-20.