BARRY Bendall and Ken Marsh are the kings of England after winning the national over-55 pairs championship.

Playing at Bromley, the Banister Park duo gave a superb performance to crush James Wilson and Mike Crafer (Connaught, Essex) 27-11 in the final.

Trailing 6-3 at six ends, the Hampshire twosome took the next six ends to march into a decisive 21-6 lead, triggered by a six on the seventh end.

For Marsh it is his first national title at the age of 75 while, for skip Bendall, the triumph came 48 hours before his landmark 60th birthday - and in the same week that he had won the Southampton and District BA fours crown.

Both men agreed it was a real team effort as Bendall had been the driving force in the quarter-final and the semi-final while Marsh played like a man possessed in the final, his amazing consistency at lead continuously putting pressure on their Essex opponents.

Banister Park's tightest match was the quarter-final. Behind for most of the time, they levelled on the 19th end and then scored a single and two to squeeze past Alan Pearce and Roy Lambden from Lostwithiel, Cornwall 19-16.

That match was played in pretty miserable weather on the Kent green and, as conditions improved, so did Banister Park's form and they overcame David Cole and Cecil Baker (Great Plumstead, Norfolk) in the semi-final 24-15, helped by a five on the last end. Banister Park's success has really been a three-man affair as Geoff Norgate made the original approach to Bendall to enter the EBA championship that annually attracts thousands of competitors.

When Bendall was not available for the second match, Marsh was drafted in as a substitute - and Marsh was also used later on when Norgate had to drop out because of a cartilage operation which has prevented him from playing again this summer.