Bowling: Scott produces a master performance

Jun 4 2009 by Our Correspondent, West Lothian Courier

SCOTT McMaster produced a headline grabbing performance in Monday night’s third round of the West Lothian Junior Open for The Fred Meikle Trophy with the young Broxburn star capturing the scalp of defending champion Bryan Cooper.

Cooper, the number one seed from Bathgate, clashed with McMaster at Bankton Mains where despite being a hot favourite he came against the collar at 13-10 down after 14-ends.

Better joy for the other three remaining seeds saw Thomas Mann (No2) of Newbridge beat James Bird (East Calder), 21-9, Cameron Greer (No5) of Bathgate beat Charlie Williams (Bankton Mains), 21-3, and Steven Forrest (No8) of Kirkliston beat Ross Miller (East Calder), 21-12.

Andrew Semple of Oakbank advanced at the 21-10 expense of his club mate R Hutchison while Greg Baldry (East Calder) dealt a 21-16 exit to Kevin McNeish of Middleton Hall.

Colin Cruickshanks carried the Pumpherston banner forward with a 21-12 win over Kevin McConnell (Armadale) while Paul Barrett (Deans) and Mark McCullagh (Buchan Park) play at the weekend.

West Lothian are ‘up, up and away’ in their bid to qualify from the East section of the Cities and Counties Championship having extended their undefeated run to four at the expense of chief rivals Edinburgh and Leith when the teams clashed at Mayfield last weekend.

Whilst nothing can be taken for certain in bowls the formbook strongly favours West Lothian on the run in of three more games to play as fringe challengers East Lothian and Border both lost for a second time.

Mayfield was in splendid condition and on a sun drenched day the only pre-match cloud surrounding E&L was that home team captain Andrew Ramsay was an absentee leading to the call up of Robert Donaldson (Parkside) and the promotion to skip of Paul O’Donnell.

Wins for the home the rinks skipped by O’Donnell and James Hogg paled into insignificance as West Lothian stormed to a 156-108 triumph with winning contributions from Thomas Mann, John Aitken, Neil Speirs, and Graeme Archer.

WL did arrive as favourites due to their strength on paper but were immediately pressured by a 13-0 loss on the opening end and E&L went on to capture the first 7-end phase, 53-39.

However WL responded to the character testing challenge in magnificent fashion as they roared back like lions to win the second phase, 52-28 then savaged the now struggling home team, 65-27 on the third.

What turned out to be a false signal saw E&L increase their early match lead to a daunting 23 shots (64-41) with an 11-2 count at the eighth end at which stage the spectacular 115-44 reply that lay ahead from WL couldn’t be predicted

Thomas Mann emerged both the hero and inspirational figure for WL as he skipped Frazer Muirhead, Walter McDougall, and Gary Smith to a 39-5 win over Colin Mitchell.

HOLDERS Broxburn beat Harthill 75-43 to advance to the second round of the Rosebery Cup while eye-catching results included, Bathgate 91 Armadale 39; Kinneil 64 Newbridge 61; Bankton Mains 88 Ratho 25; Philpstoun 68 Whitburn 60.

Tonight’s line up in the third round of the County Championships: Singles – Bankton Mains v Bridgeness at Bellsburn; Seafield v Deans at Bathgate; Queensferry v Linlithgow at Armadale; Winchburgh v Kinneil at Linlithgow.

Pairs – Kirkliston v Armadale at Bathgate; Springgrove v Broxburn at Bellsburn; Bathgate v Philpstoun at Linlithgow; Middleton Hall v Queensferry at Armadale.

Triples – Queensferry v Watson Memorial at Broxburn; Stoneyburn v Polbeth at Pumpherston; Broxburn v Kirkliston at Newbridge; Oakbank v Bankton Mains at Deans.

Fours – Kirkliston v Whitburn at Pumpherston; Buchan Park v Pumpherston at Broxburn; Bellsburn v Broxburn at Deans; Mid Calder v Winchburgh.