MALCOLM Wayne booked his place in the final of the Millennium Shield after an epic battle of carpet bowls in his semi-final against Terry Barnes at Courtauld Halstead Bowls Club.

Both players started the first end nervously.

Barnes played a red wood skilfully on to the jack, but with it not holding shot, it rolled on to the black wood of Wayne to give him the first end and a 1-0 lead.

The second end, saw Barnes putting pressure on to the black woods, but unfortunately for him, he knocked his red wood off the jack, leaving a gap for Wayne to exploit and open a 2-0 advantage.

Barnes knew he had to show his determination to battle back and he showed great skill at the start of the third end to remove his opponent's black wood.

He followed this with three marvellous red woods that surrounded the jack and offered no way in for Wayne as four shots gave Barnes a 4-2 lead.

Wayne moved his black wood on to the jack at the start of the fourth end, before Barnes retaliated by hitting the jack and moving it across and up the mat.

This saw Wayne at his best, as he placed both his third and fourth black woods next to an awkwardly positioned jack to level the score at 4-4.

First blood in the final end went to Barnes, who held one red wood against the jack.

Wayne manage to place two blacks in front of the red wood, though, to hold two shots and although Barnes managed to take out one, he was unable to remove the last black as Wayne won an epic semi-final match 5-4.