Mann on top of the world after triumph

Oct 22 2009 by Our Correspondent, West Lothian Courier

NEWBRIDGE bowler Thomas Mann and Iain McLean of Lanarkshire returned from the USA earlier this week having carried the Scotland banner to title success in the pairs competition of the Michael Ashton-Phillips Challenge played in Southern California.

The international field included representation from Canada, China, England, Hong Kong, Israel, Wales and the United States and the McLean/Mann partnership was emulating the success of Darren Burnett and Willie Wood MBE in 2008.

Scotland topped the list of qualifiers with seven wins and one peel from their nine games then they beat Canada in the semi finals and James Talbot and Mark McPeak of Ireland in the final.

McLean came closest to emulating the 2006 title success of Midlothian’s David Peacock in the singles but having reached the semi finals lost out to Charlie Herbert of the USA who went on to beat James Talbot of Ireland.

McLean had won six and lost three in his qualifying section while Mann just missed out on reaching the semis having won five and lost four in his section.

Mann had flown to the twin Californian venues of Newport Beach and Laguna Beach straight from his honeymoon but in a pure romantic gesture had secretly arranged for his wife to join him on the trip.

There was no joy for leading ladies Wendy Purdie and Mandy O’Donnell when they pitted their individual skills against the men in the opening round of the inaugural Champion of Champions indoor bowls at Arbroath last Sunday.

Jointly sponsored by the SIBA and the SWIBA and featuring a select field of 16 players it was hoped that Purdie (West Lothian) and O’Donnell (Bainfield) would make a winning impression to further the cause of mixed competition.

But both players had it tough against junior cap Steven Allan of Alloa and full cap Jim McLarrie of Coatbridge respectively, and they lost out in straight sets.

Purdie, the ladies number one, did manage to hold Allan to an 8-8 peel in their second set but was under survival pressure from being outgunned 8-3 in the first while O’Donnell became a 12-7, 12-3 victim of McLarrie.

The other first round ties saw Robert Grant of Lanarkshire beat Jane Brooksby of Falkirk 11-1, 9-3, and Andrew Barker of Elgin beat his clubmate Graeme Donaldson, 13-4, 7-7.

Allan clashed with Grant in the second round and beat his more senior opponent 11-2, 7-5 while Barker shared his two sets 8-7, 6-10 before beating McLarrie 2-1 on the tie break.

The section final also went down to the wire with Allan capturing the first set 10-4 against Barker then losing the second 5-12 before taking the tie break 2-1.

The second section is down for decision at Midlothian IBC this Sunday with the grand final taking place at Perth on November 14.

Club champions Calum Logan (West Lothian) and Ewan Shearer (Balbardie) failed to shine in the playdown action of the national singles championship at Arbroath last weekend with both making their exit in the prelim round

West Lothian IBC hopes rested with Logan but the 20-year-old couldn’t quite get to grips with Gary Mackie of East Fife and lost a hard fought battle, 21-17. Mackie then beat Stuart Pagan (Abbeyview) and Darren Pirie of Fraserburgh before losing to Andy Duncan of Garioch.

Shearer has excellent outdoor form in singles play and there were high hopes that the 36-year-old from Bo’ness would start to make a similar impression on the indoor scene.

However, such hopes were quickly dashed in the shape of a 21-16 defeat at the hands of K Daly of Castlemilk who then lost out to Mark McLees of Inverclyde.

Holder Stewart Anderson of Auchinleck dealt exits of Stuart Hogg (Falkirk) and Brian Irvine (Blantyre) before his reign was ended by a 21-18 defeat from Mike Stepney of Elgin.

Portobello champion George Johnstone made his exit in the last 16 stage having defeated Alan Young of East Lothian and David Green of Nithsdale before losing to Ricky Taylor of Glasgow

Bainfield champion Jamie Gracie also represented the challenge from the Capital but the 25-year-old failed to live up to high expectations and crashed out in the prelim round a 21-16 victim of the aforementioned Taylor.

Taylor to be fair went on to show good form in the shape of wins over 21 times capped John Gilmartin of Paisley then George Johnstone before making a 21-14 exit to Gary Johnstone of Auchinleck.

Full cap Steven Currie was a strong Midlothian replacement for unavailable champion Colin Walker but there was no joy for the Dalkeith support as they witnessed their man being crushed 21-8 in the prelims by Andrew Furye of Arbroath.

Furye was a stand in himself – for title favourite Darren Burnett – and the host club challenger continued to go great guns and wins over Jim Meikle (Lanarkshire), Neil McNally (Tweedbank) and George Lennon (Perth) saw him qualify for the semis.

The field was 53 strong and Furye was joined in the semis by Andy Duncan (Garioch), Gary Johnstone (Auchinleck), and Mike Stepney (Elgin).

The SBA have announced their team for the 2010 Home International Series to be played at Worthing and it contains six players from West Lothian.

Ewan Shearer of Bo’ness is stepped up from the reserve bench to play lead in the rink skipped by colleague Grant Logan of Kirkliston while Thomas Mann of Newbridge will line up at second to the recalled Graeme Archer of Uphall Station.

Neil Speirs of Kirkliston is named at third to Willie Wood MBE while Gary Smith of Linlithgow lines up at third to team captain Darren Burnett. The other skips are David Peacock and Alex Marshall MBE.

George Sneddon of Broxburn continues in his capacity of Team Manager and the only downside for West Lothian is the absence of Kirkliston legend John Aitken .

West Lothian visit Arbroath in Saturday’s premier league fixture while Balbardie travel to Tweedbank in Division 1B.