Bowling: West Lothian face a real test against Midlothian

May 7 2009 by Our Correspondent, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian hit the campaign trail in the Scottish Counties Championship this weekend and on the face of it look to have a tough test in store against Midlothian at Gorebridge on Saturday.

Midlothian won the equivalent encounter at Armadale last season and went on to top the East section, whilst West Lothian failed to qualify, but the sad passing since of legend figure Alex McIntosh has robbed them of a great inspirational team manager.

Frank Gray, a seasoned administrator on both the indoor and outdoor scene, is the new manager and understandably remains loyal to the bulk of the formation that served Midlothian so well last season.

The team to face WL is captained by their icon figure David Peacock and reads as follows: Rink 1 – Eddie Adams, George Yuill, Willie Rankin, and Colin Walker.

Rink 2 – Calum Crawford, Arron Clinkscales, Jim Gibson, and Craig Hodge.

Rink 3 – Steven Currie, Ramsay Blair, John Stevenson and Ian Brown.

Rink 4 – Ronnie Duncan, Jim Farquhar, Lindsay Plenderleith and Colin McFarlane.

Rink 5 – Martin Wyllie, Scott Matthews, Drew Pearson and Billy Peacock.

Rink 6 – Tom Moffat, Jamie Mitchell, Scott Briggs and David Peacock.

The only change to West Lothian is the resignation of Neil Grant as a selector and his subsequent replacement by Association secretary Mark Wilson.

Despite the absence of international players George Sneddon and Gary Smith the West Lothian line-up remains exceptionally strong in personality with skips John Aitken, Graeme Archer, Grant Logan, Raymond Logan, Thomas Mann, and Neil Speirs all figures of immense reputation.

So much so that WL will enter this match and indeed the East section as favourites but games aren’t won on paper so the challenge is to prove it on the green. And in Gorebridge the opposition have sportingly provided a venue that even this early in the season will give touch skills a fair reward.

NEIL Speirs is back on top of the world and it is heartening to see West Lothian’s number-one asset back in the effervescent form that has earned him legend status in the sport by the age of 30.

Speirs – a former World Cup Singles Champion – is now the reigning World Indoor Bowls Council Singles Champion having captured the title in the major event staged at Swansea in Wales recently.

The West Lothian IBC challenger carried the Scotland banner to a triumph that emulated the previous successes of Graeme Archer (2000) Darren Burnett (2001) and Colin Walker (2008), and he achieved it by defeating fellow Scot Stewart Anderson of Auchinleck in the final.

Speirs topped his qualifying section with three wins out of four then went on to deal a two sets to nil exit to Mark O’Riordan of England in the semi-finals before accounting 10-8; 3-10; 2-1 for Anderson in the final.

And just to put extra icing on the cake Speirs linked up with Margaret Letham of Blantyre to capture the World IBC Mixed Pairs title.

Speirs suffered an understandable form lapse after his great conquest in Australia back in 2006 but having experienced that reaction will be better prepared to hit the ground running for the WL challenge in the Counties Championship.

The illustrious CV of Speirs on the outdoor scene includes Scottish Junior Singles 2003; Scottish Mixed Pairs 2000; West Lothian Masters 2002 and finalist 01 and 07; WLBA Champion of Champions 2006; Junior Open 1997 and 2002; Singles 2003; also Junior and Senior Caps for Scotland.

THE Ratho Open Pairs sponsored by Belhaven Brewery attracted a top-class entry of 76 last weekend and the £450 winners prize went to the father and son partnership of Graham and Stephen Pringle of Carrick Knowe.

They defeated Paul Rintoul and David Baird of Bainfield, 9-2 in the final.

THE junior brigade of West Lothian BA launched their defence of the Scottish Under-25 League Cup title with a handsome win over Dumbartonshire at Glenmavis last Sunday.