Bowling: Balbardie make their presence felt

Dec 10 2009 by Mairon Laird, West Lothian Courier

BALBARDIE continue to make their presence felt in the B section of Division 1 and kept their promotion challenge alive and kicking with a commanding 93-66 away win over foot of the table Whiteinch last weekend.

With Bainfield toppling leaders Alloa, 94-63, the Bathgate based club now find themselves joint top with the Edinburgh challengers but some 52 adrift on shot margin.

Balbardie’s latest success, their fourth win in seven games, was expected on the form book and it was driven by triumphs for the rinks skipped by Walter McDougall, Sandy McDougall, and Ewan Shearer.

Whiteinch did edge the first 7-end phase, 29-28 but Balbardie asserted themselves with a 24-11 reply on the second and followed that with a 41-24 success on the third.

McDougall (Walter) found the going tough over the first 13 ends and trailed 15-12 but skipped Ian Drysdale Hugh Marshall and Gerry Duggan to a whirlwind finish of 1, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 2, 1 as they stormed to a 31-15 win over Stuart Sloan.

McDougall (Sandy) hit the lids in great style and raced into an 18-5 lead and he topped an exciting performance by skipping Lawson Trotter Mark Bonner and David Lawrie to a 26-12 win over George McCartney.

Shearer and his rink of Gary Orr Alistair Wilson and Andy Forrest picked up the pace from 9-11 and crossed to 19-11 before clinching a 23-17 win over Tom Fox.

The late loss of 3, 5 caused the rink of Jim Speirs Davie Ross Kenny Martin and Graeme Byrne to suffer a 20-13 defeat at the hands of Peter Murray.

West Lothian Indoor Bowling Club produced a strong performance to beat Midlothian by a comfortable 14 shots at Dalkeith and the encouraging result kept them hot on the heels of Lanarkshire and Prestwick who lead the A section of the premier league.

Midlothian came into the match on a lower ranking than their rivals but were entitled to be considered favourites on their own carpet especially as West Lothian were weakened by the absence of icon figures George Sneddon and Neil Speirs.

The match was battled out on a tightrope on three of the four rinks with Mark Alison edging a three shot win, stand in skip Calum Logan holding his opposition to a peel, and Joey Strickland just going under by a single shot.

West Lothian skip Thomas Mann was the major influence on the 74-60 outcome of the match with his 12 shot victory tipping the scales in favour of the visitors.

The phase scoring makes good reading for a determined WL challenge with the visitors showing good battling qualities to edge all three phases, 23-19, 28-26, and 23-15.

Mann zipped into a morale boosting 20-3 lead over Willie Rankin having benefited from massive counts of five at the 10th and 11th ends then skipping Paul Lynas Des Hagart and Raymond Logan to a 25-13 success.

Allison made a vital cushion for himself with a super six at the 17th end to cross 17-12 .

Then he traded on it to skip Ewan Wilson James Greenock and James Speirs to a 17-16 win over Colin Walker.

Logan was nip and tuck all the way and performed a valuable holding job as he skipped Bryan Cooper Richard Mark and Cameron Greer to a 15-15 peel with Billy Peacock.

Strickland and his rink of David Wilson Blair Mackie and Stuart Johnston went down 16-15 to former team mates Ian Brown (third) and Graeme Archer.

Elsewhere in the A section, Lanarkshire beat foot of the table Arbroath 100-62 and Prestwick beat Auchinleck 83-60. Lanarkshire and Prestwick top the table with a 2 point lead over West Lothian.

East Lothian and Blantyre share the 10 point mark at the top of the B section of the premier league.

Balbardie ladies continued their excellent run of form to make it seven wins from eight games with their 90-66 victory over qualifying rivals Whiteinch when the clubs clashed in Division 1D of the Scottish league Cup at Bathgate .

And wins on all four rinks, skipped by Liz Boyle, Sharon Leitch, Margo Duff, and Shona Hogg made it a solid team performance the league leaders who top the table by four points from Stirling and Whiteinch.

The phase scoring shows it was a tough battle over the first two phases with Balbardie edging then 31-24 and 27-23 but the home side stepped up the pressure on the run in and captured the third, 32-19.

Boyle benefited from two mighty fives, one at the 14th and the other at the 20th, as she skipped Catherine Lochran Margaret Taylor and Sadie McKenzie to a 24-16 win over Liz Brown.

Leitch included 5’s at the third and 11th ends as she skipped Kim Ross Agnes Thomas and Marian Coats to a 26-18 win over Audrey Cameron.

Duff was all square at 12-12, 13-13, and 15-15 but ‘toughed’ it out well to skip Morven Shearer Catherine Shearer and Pat Purdie to a 21-16 win over Agnes McMillan.

Hogg tipped the scales with late counts of 1, 3 to skip Ali Blagg Margaret Scally and Marion Halliday to a 19-16 win over Margaret Ratteray.

West Lothian have often in the past struggled to make a positive impression in Division 1C.

However, they showed their true potential with a tip top performance to shock leaders Portobello 91-88 at the Inveralmond stadium.