MARLOW bowler Andy Wise qualified for the All England Singles Championships after 30 years of trying and then made it all the way to the final on his championship debut.

MARLOW bowler Andy Wise qualified for the All England Singles Championships after 30 years of trying and then made it all the way to the final on his championship debut.

The county bowler, who plays his club bowls at Marlow, eventually lost out to England player and two-times championship winner John Ottaway in the final after his amazing run.

Wise, from Totteridge, High Wycombe, admitted: 'If someone had told me before I went down there that I would get through two or three rounds I would have been happy with that. I didn't really expect any more.

'After I won my semi-final match I just sat on the green shaking my head. I couldn't believe I was in the final.

'Someone came up to me and said 'you know you've won £300', but at that point I wasn't even thinking about the money, it was just about the prestige of getting to the final.'

The 50-year-old claimed £600 prize money in total for his three days work in Worthing.

He took that after losing 21-9 to Norfolk's Ottaway in the final, which was watched by 1,000 spectators, Wise's Marlow and former Oxford clubmates among them.

'The support was absolutely great,' he added.

He reached the finals with wins over Ernie Over (21-16), Geoff Newson (21-18), Simon Pettingel (21-16), Dick Richardson (21-10) and John Leeman (21-17).

His run was even more incredible because he reached the championships after taking runners-up spot in the county rounds behind Buckingham's Ray Gaskins, who was knocked out in the quarter-finals at Worthing.

Before now, Wise had never even reached the quarter finals of the county rounds, despite entering the contest each year since he took up the sport at the age of 16, following in his father's footsteps.