Speirs is all set to carry his county’s banner into battle

Oct 23 2008 by Our Correspondent, West Lothian Courier

THE West Lothian banner is set to appear in the final stages of the Scottish Indoor Bowls Singles Championship at East Lothian on the weekend of November 29/30 and the carrier is exciting three- times local champion Neil Speirs.

Speirs, an international player of strong reputation, stormed into the last four lineup with wins over the challengers from Deeside, Headwell, Abbeyview, and West of Scotland in the playdown action at Coatbridge last weekend.

Speirs crushed Graeme Stephen (Deeside) 21-3 in the prelim round then beat Craig Campbell (Headwell), 21-10, and Allan Ramsay (Abbeyview) 21-14, before dealing a 21-11 exit to the notable Mark Kelsey of West of Scotland.

The West Lothian champion is joined in the semi-final lineup by immediate opponent Scott Briggs of Midlothian plus Cameron Wilson of Galleon and Stewart Anderson of Auchinleck.

Internationalists Scott Kennedy (holder) and Jim Meikle lost to the impressive Scott Briggs while Wilson denied Craig Moss of Bainfield at the final hurdle.

Balbardie champion Kenny Martin put up a bold show in his first performances on a major stage, opening with a 21-19 win over James Harper of Garioch before making a 21-14 exit to former champion Simon Thomson of Falkirk.

THE local bragging rights belong to the ladies of Balbardie after the visitors from Bathgate emerged from their derby match against West Lothian IBC at Livingston in section E of the Scottish League cup with a handsome 33-shot victory.

The 102-69 scoreline is a reflection of Balbardie counting at 48 of the 84 ends giving them a 57/43 percent domination of that measure but further analysis shows that it was 52/48 over the first 14 ends and escalating to 68/32 on the run-in.

It is usually the home team that manages to finish with a flourish, however on this occasion having edged the first 29-28 and peeled the second 27-27 it was Balbardie that stepped on the accelerator to dominate the third 46-14.

Liz Boyle was the hero figure for Balbardie, winning 12 of her 21 ends and carding 15-0 on the run-in as she skipped Morven Shearer, Margaret Scally and Marion Halliday to a 31-12 win over Lisa Barrett, Isabel Lindsay, June Bell and Greta Scott.

Margo Duff also carried the battle deep into their rivals’ camp and included a final phase of 15-2 as she skipped Doreen Reeder, Ally Blagg and Pat Purdie to a 29-15 win over Irene Taylor, Carole Clarkson, Jennifer Sneddon and Margaret Russell.

Lorraine Malloy just managed to finish the stronger from 13-13 after 12 ends to skip Catherine Lochran, Catherine Shearer and Sadie McKenzie to a 24-21 win over Jennifer Richardson, Jean McPherson, Lily Sword and Angela Uttley.

West Lothian did strike one winning blow and it was delivered by national singles champion Wendy Purdie who came off a 13-18 pace to skip Irene Wright, Catherine Howie and Ann Clark to a 21-18 success over Kim Ross, Agnes Thomas, Marian Coats and Sharon Leitch.

Both teams now have one win from their opening three matches and lag behind Falkirk who top the table with six points.

PREMIER League action returns this weekend with West Lothian pitched in a major away battle against section favourites East Lothian at Tranent.

Both teams are strongly formed so it will take some special backend magic from skips Neil Speirs, Graeme Archer, Thomas Mann and Mark Allison to tip the scales against a normally vibrant home team who may give a debut to world-stage star Paul Foster.

If so Foster will join forces with the likes of international skips Alex Marshall MBE, Willie Wood MBE, and Graham Robertson who head up the East Lothian challenge.

Bryan Cooper retains his place at lead after the absence of Ewan Wilson on holiday in a WL line up that reads: Rink 1 – David Brown, James Speirs, Stuart Johnston and Mark Allison; Rink 2 – Cameron Greer, Des Hagart, George Sneddon and Graeme Archer; Rink 3 – James Greenock, David Wilson, Calum Logan and Thomas Mann; Rink 4 – Bryan Cooper, Raymond Logan, Ricky Forrest and Neil Speirs.

WEST Lothian face Fife team Headwell at the Dunfermline venue in the first round of the host club’s Team Championship event this Sunday (2-30pm).

The WL team reads: Ladies – Irene Taylor, Jennifer Sneddon, Ann Clark and Margaret Russell.

Under-35s – Ewan Wilson, James Speirs, Calum Logan and Neil Speirs.

Gents – David Legerwood, David Wilson, Ricky Forrest and George Sneddon.

Seniors – Alastair Lindsay, Jim Craig, Brian Holloran and Peter Ball.

A HIGHLIGHT from last week’s action in Division 1 of the League Cup at WLIBC saw the rink of James Greenock, Derek Mairs, Davy Smith and Martin Black conjure up a 1, 1, 1, 5, finish to steal a 14-13 win over Gary Smith.

Derek Wardrop skipped Brian Walker, John Millar and David Anderson to a 12-10 win over Burnet Rose, Jim McCallum, Jim Speirs and David Wilson.

Grant Knox lost five at the second-last but had enough in the bank to skip Calum Black, Andrew Cavanagh and Frazer Muirhead to an impressive 11-9 win over Bryan Cooper, James Speirs, Neil Speirs and Thomas Mann.

A dramatic climax in Division 1 of the Ladies League Cup saw Nan Leckie conjure up some magic at the last to skip A Smith, M Brown and I Howes to a 12-11 win over Irene Wright, Muriel Brash, Agnes Allan and Lily Sword.