County bowlers to set out on quest for Scottish glory

Feb 5 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

THE Scottish Cup swings into its first stage prelim round action this Saturday and local clubs West Lothian and Balbardie indoor bowling clubs are both on duty but Monday's snowbound weather held up declarations on team selection.

West Lothian first won the coveted trophy in 1989 and have etched their name on the silverware five times.

However, Balbardie have yet to spark cup winning celebrations in Bathgate although they will be giving the tournament their best shot.

The prelim round draw, though, hasn't been overly kind to West Lothian as the team from Livingston is set to tackle fellow premier league opposition in the shape of Auchinleck, with the match being played at the West of Scotland IBC.

Balbardie can turn on the power and style when fielding a full strength team so if they can muster their best forces this weekend the Division One side have a favourites chance against Division Two side Fraserburgh at Forfar.

Meanwhile, West Lothian only managed to fire on two of their four cylinders when tackling Falkirk Seniors in the opening play of the Finest Fours event at Falkirk last Sunday but that was enough to see them through.

High scoring wins for the rinks skipped by George Sneddon and Raymond Logan left West Lothian 22 shots in surplus after the defeat of Mark Allison and David Wilson.

Sneddon and his rink of Derek Mairs Derek Wardrop and James Speirs served up a spectacular display to triumph 35-12 having exploded from 9-3 to 24-3 with a run of 5, 3, 1, 2, 4 against R Reid.

Logan opened his account with a mighty five at the second end then led to skip Richard Mark, Bryan Walker and David Brown to a 27-14 win over F Watson.

Allison and his rink of Kenny Black, Scott McMaster and David Ledgerwood suffered a seven end barren spell to trail 12-2 and although still in contention at 16-16 slipped to a 21-16 defeat from L Ramsay.

Wilson and his rink of Stewart Gibson, Paul Barrett and David Smith faced an uphill battle at 13-1 down after seven ends.

Although having their moments the West Lothian lads suffered a 23-13 defeat from A Keddie.

Last Saturday, Arbroath dealt West Lothian a 6-2 exit on points when the two premier league clubs clashed in the opening round play of the Cities and Counties championship at Perth.

The rinks skipped by Mark Allison, George Sneddon and James Speirs all suffered defeat in the competition.

The only silver lining came with the victory delivered by Raymond Logan.

Logan made a scintillating start to skip James Greenock, Alan Ure and David Brown into a 16-5 lead after 10 ends.

Although the second half scoring was more even they posted a 22-12 triumph over B Petrie to bring some joy for the county team.

Allison also made a bright start to skip Stewart Gibson, Scott McMaster and Blair Mackie into a 7-0 lead.

However, they then became involved in a ding dong battle before slipping to a 20-15 defeat from S Pirie.

Sneddon looked a sure fire winner when skipping Bryan Walker, Paul Barrett and David Wilson but eight ends of zero counts saw them tumble to a costly 23-18 defeat.

Speirs and his rink of Jim Craig, Ian McKeag and John Lynas battled hard but the loss of a five at the 19th end finally did them for them and they went down to a 19-11 defeat from P Carnagie.

The recent sensational defeat of Frank Weir at the hands of Jennifer Richardson Lisa Barrett and Lynn Greer in a Triples league match at West Lothian Indoor Bowling Club had nothing to do with his immediate escape to Egypt.

"Honest it was a pre-booked holiday", insisted the bowler known as ‘Mr Magnificent’ who having bathed in the Nile returned with a smile and some magic form that got him back on a winning track in the Division One league.

"Have no fear Weir is here", said the bold Frank who with some help from Ian Munro, Colin Russell and Bob Mackay dished out strong 19-4 punishment to Archie Purves, George Brown, Ian Mackie and Stephen Pettigrew.

However, the real power and glory on the night was delivered by the rink of Richard Mark, Billy Arnott, Calum Logan and Mark Allison who finished 3, 4, 5, 1 to crush Calum Black, Andrew Cavanagh, Ian Drysdale and Grant Knox, 25-5.

Thomas Mann was also on his high horse having opened with a mighty five at the first then producing a finishing run of 3, 4, 1, 1, 1, 2, 5 to skip Dougie Mitchell, James Speirs and Neil Speirs to a 23-8 win over Martin Black.

The surprise of the night was delivered by Kenny Black who skipped John Bird, Stewart Grant and Grant Ramsay to a 17-6 win over premier league stars Cameron Greer, Joey Strickland and George Sneddon.