Bowling: Ladies and gents make it a double success

Aug 6 2009 by Our Correspondent, West Lothian Courier

THE town of Bathgate is celebrating the winning of two Scottish bowling titles with Lorraine Malloy of Springgrove, and Glenmavis duo Davy Ross and Sandy McDougall basking in the national limelight after last weekend’s championships at Ayr Northfield.

The double success for the West Lothian banner saw Malloy thrill her support by capturing the Ladies’ Singles crown with a series of excellent displays, culminating in a commanding win over Jean Sykes of Cumnock in the final.

And the thunderous applause that paid tribute to her great success was soon repeated in response to the unexpected triumph of the Ross/McDougall partnership against Tanfield in the Gents’ Pairs.

These were joint championships for the first time, and the history-making event was given its first West Lothian stamp in a memorable occasion as 43-year old Malloy etched her name on the blue riband Singles trophy for a second time.

It was predicted that Malloy would have her hands full in the final against indoor international skip Jean Sykes who had ended the reign of holder Marie Todd (Newton St Boswell) in the morning semi finals.

But the 2007 champion played an absolute blinder to win convincingly, 21-10, in 20 ends.

Her confident display was streets ahead of what was being offered in the men’s final

Malloy opened the final with a first bowl noser, which led to a count of two and she went on to add three singles for a 5-0 lead then she answered the loss of two singles with a run of 3, 3, 1 for a 12-2 command that put Sykes under immense pressure.

Sykes stuck to her task with some determination and closed menacingly to 16-10 but was still couldn’t find the consistency of line and length that Malloy was displaying and the Springgrove ace turned the screw with a couple of twos to 20.

Malloy had coped admirably with changes of mat and jack length, introduced by Skyes, but playing to her own three-quarter jack on the 20th end she covered it with her third bowl and it proved the title-winning delivery.

“I felt that I had mastered the pace of the rink right from the start and that breeds its own confidence and helps you cope with the pressures of a big crowd so I found winning the title for a second time a wonderful experience,” said Malloy.

Malloy’s goose had looked to be cooked in the morning semi finals when she trailed Margaret Duthie of Abergeldie 13-5, but she fought back to cross 16-15 then from 16-17 hit 21 with a glorious 3, 2 finish.

The District 26 champion launched her title campaign at Ayr with a 21-15 win over Laurie McMaster of Inverkeithing in 23 ends having led 16-7 then she zipped to a 21-8 success over Sandra Dean of Moray in 16-ends.

The Springgrove ace came against the collar at 14-9 down to Shirley Bannatyne of Campbeltown but turned up trumps hitting 21 with a scintillating run of 2, 3, 4, 1, 2 to reach the semi finals.

SCOTT Mackintosh of London Road Foundry suffered the agony of letting the Singles title slip through his fingers after having it in the palm of his hand.

But the experience of his District 11 colleagues, Alec Thompson and Graeme McIntosh of Tanfield, was even more traumatic and dramatic in the final of the Pairs.

The Tanfield partnership – and their support - displayed tremendous sportsmanship in the split second moment that transformed the imminent title celebration into the gut-wrenching realisation that the great prize had been denied them.

If there was an upside to it then it was that they were victims of a most magical and special climax that saw Davy Ross and Sandy McDougall snatch the title with a sensational last-bowl delivery — at an extra end.

McDougall became the hero figure when in a Susan Boyle-like moment he overcame tons of pressure in front of a crowded banking to draw an inch-perfect shot with the very last bowl when the margin of error was zero. The decision to draw rather than strike was itself both bold and brave so the expectation level of McDougall producing the bowl of the entire championships wasn’t itself much higher than zero due to the technical challenges that confronted him.

“What can you say – our world collapsed in front of our very eyes yet there was no luck involved and in that instant you could only applaud the exceptional skill that had robbed us of what would have been our greatest moment in the sport”, summed up McIntosh.

If 41-year old McDougall – the No.16 seed in the recent West Lothian Masters – had been capable of a triple cartwheel down the rink he would have done so, but he wisely settled for an upward look to the heavens and a wide smile that embraced the thunderous applause.

The whole of the crowded banking were privileged to witness such an awesome moment and the Glenmavis and wider West Lothian support went absolutely wild as they acclaimed what was the first-ever national title success for the club.

All had seemed lost when Glenmavis entered the last end four shots down (14-18) but a marvellous build up by Ross led to the partnership having five bowls in the head then with three shots declared the tensions heightened when a fourth was added after a measure.

The extra-end decider then built up massively in favour of Tanfield but that only served to set the scene for McDougall achieving his greatest-ever moment.

Glenmavis opened the championships with a 15-12 win over Strathmiglo then dealt Cullen a 17-2 defeat before coming late to pip St Vincent 14-12 for a place in the semis where they were good 16-9 winners over Kilmarnock North West.

A hat-trick of title wins was on the cards for West Lothian but the bold effort from Blackburn trio Delia Flannigan, Cathy Machnik and Angie Uttley was denied by a 17-15 defeat from Castle Kennedy in the final of the Triples.