Bowling: Blue Riband honour goes to Kirkliston

Jul 2 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

KIRKLISTON Bowling Club etched their name on the famous Rosebery Cup for a 20th time.

The Kirkliston bowlers produced a tenacious performance under intense pressure to beat defending champions Broxburn by five shots in an epic final which was played on fine running turf at Bellsburn.

Some will say Broxburn blew it when asked the tough questions on the extended run in of the final.

Others will say that Kirkliston won it with the ability to stay the distance and by landing the killer punches under pressure.

Broxburn led 71-65 after the normal 17-ends but the Rosebery Cup final is the St Leger not the Derby and the extended four ends to 21 saw Kirkliston power past the holders on the run in to cross the line deserved 89-84 winners.

“Winning the Blue Riband Trophy of the county is a great honour for our club.

“This is another memorable day in the history of Kirkliston Bowling Club.

“And with our typical brand of attacking flair much in evidence it brought extra merit to our team performance,” summed up KBC President Ross Kelt.

The final was fought out on a tightrope for most of the match.

Kirkliston edged the first 7-end phase 30-27 but then came under pressure with the 32-26 loss of the second then responding magnificently with a 33-25 success on the run in.

Both teams had two winning rinks with Grant Logan and Neil Speirs successful for Kirkliston while Calum Logan and Mark Allison did the business for Broxburn.

Grant Logan has a ‘David Beckham’ flavour about his image and the 33-year-old internationalist emerged Kirkliston’s personality figure as he skipped Dave McRobbie, Andi Gray, and his father Gordon Logan to a 28-18 win over Ian Laverie.

Logan and his squad zipped into an early 11-1 lead then led 18-9 before coming under great pressure at 18-18 .

However, the icing on the cake was still to come and they decorated a fine performance with a dazzling one, six, three finish.

Speirs raised an early cheer with a mighty five at the third end and he went on to skip Andrew Suddon, Brian McRobbie, and Steven Forrest into a 14-6 lead over Broxburn icon George Sneddon.

Speirs and company found themselves tested at 14-12 but responded with a one, one, three reply to 19.

Having benefited from a costly opposition mistake they then went on to win 22-16.

Broxburn were definitely at the races however and their main thrust was coming from Mark Allison .

He dashed into a 10-0 lead then added a magnificent seven at the eighth end followed by a two to bring Raymond Logan under major pressure.

Logan and his rink of Jim Gray, Val Jenkins and Derrick Meikle trailed 19-3 and that went to 27-9 before a magic transformation sparked an exciting finishing run of two, two, three, three, two to finish just 27-21 adrift.

The Broxburn heads may have dipped in the heat of battle but not so with Calum Logan who was still driven by a desire to take the scalp of international skip John Aitken and his rink of Greg Robinson David Brown and Greg Logan.

Aitken led 18-17 with the match result declared but sportingly agreed to play the final end.

This allowed Logan to produce two thunderbolt strikes that yielded a six for him to skip John Cruickshanks Mike Nelson and Stewart Grant to a 23-18 win.

“This has been a great spectacle for Bellsburn to host and the club and both teams have done this special occasion proud,” said West Lothian Bowling A ssociation President Gary Clelland.

Meanwhile, Linlithgow secured the Kelso Cup after winning an epic battle against Newbridge in the final at host club Broxburn where the historic and prestigious event has been staged since its inception in 1908.

The Kelso Cup is a two-rink confrontation and the head to heads saw Newbridge win one by four shots but Linlithgow do even better to win the other by six shots after a dramatic climax to the 17-end final.

Both games had their transformations with Alec Allan trailing 11-6 and 13-9 before coming off the pace with a run of four, four, three to skip Stuart Affleck James Speirs and Ian Robertson into a 19-13 lead.

That kept Newbridge well in the picture although G Keery D Alexander Gary Orr and Steven Fleming did the Linlithgow cause a huge favour by finish on a gilt edged double to 15.

Meanwhile the early picture looked rosy for Newbridge on the other rink being played.

Thomas Mann skipping James Greenock Paul Sweeney and Blair Mackie into an 11-0 lead over Willie Scott Davy Orr Graeme Byrne and Gary Smith.

Smith and company were certainly slow into their stride but once their foot found the accelerator it was high gear stuff as they dominated 10 of the remaining 12 ends to motor to a 19-13 victory.

The most individual significant moment came at end 15 where Linlithgow carded a mighty five to cross 17-13 and put the match outcome in the melting pot at 30-30 with just two ends to play.

West Lothian resume their quest for Hamilton Trophy glory when the East section winners tackle West runners up Ayrshire in the quarterfinals of the Cities and Counties Championship at Armadale on Sunday.

The match has an earlier than normal start of 1pm.