GREG Harlow made the transition to outdoor bowls look easy when he gatecrashed an Australian party. He has been the world s premier indoor player for the last year and had no trouble adjusting to outdoor greens when he won the pairs title at the Australia

GREG Harlow made the transition to outdoor bowls look easy when he gatecrashed an Australian party.

He has been the world's premier indoor player for the last year and had no trouble adjusting to outdoor greens when he won the pairs title at the Australian Open, in Melbourne.

The Soham-based City of Ely player teamed up with fellow countryman Matthew Marchant and cruised to a 6-5, 9-2 victory over home players Barrie Lester and Wayne Turley in the final.

Harlow said: "First trip to Australia, first trip to Melbourne and a win in our first tournament together. It's a real buzz to know I can match it with the best in the game on the outdoor greens.

"The first set was really, really tight but we kept coming up with answers and they had to change their tactics. That worked for us in the first set and the second was a dream."

Harlow and Marchant strolled through each stage of Australia's biggest bowls tournament in straight sets, apart from in the third round when they were taken to a tie-break by P Schofield and N Brown, but came through 8-9, 13-4, 2-0.

Harlow had less joy in the singles and triples, where he bowed out in the second and first rounds respectively.

City of Ely's Ellen Falkner reached the quarter-final of the pairs with compatriot Amy Monkhouse, and was knocked out in the third round of the triples and the first round of the singles.