Stewart Meikle’s Bowls

May 27 2010 by Mairon Laird, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian bowlers passed their latest test in the east section of the Scottish Cities and Counties Championship with flying colours.

The defending champions delivered a sound performance to beat Borders by 37 shots at Hawick last Saturday.

Both teams were bidding to complete an opening hat-trick of wins and with conditions ideal it was the greater combined skills and determination of West Lothian that prevailed with the visitors winning on five of the six rinks.

The win contributions to the final 143-106 scoreline came from the rinks skipped by Grant Logan, John Aitken, Graeme Archer, Thomas Mann, and Gary Smith, while Borders gained their only success at the expense of Neil Speirs.

West Lothian now sit top of the table jointly on six points with Midlothian but boasting a shot margin bank that is 36 shots superior.

The West Lothian effort at Hawick was immediately positive and indeed the traffic lights flashed green for go on all three phases of the match with the visitors stamping a 48-24 authority on the first then battling well to edge the second, 47-39, and the third, 48-43.

Logan emerged the inspirational ‘Braveheart’ figure for the reigning national champions as he charged boldly and excitingly into the opposition territory to skip Mark Allison, Andrew Dunnett and Blair Mackie to a 20-8 lead after 13-ends.

Later highlights included a super 6 and a 4 bringing good value to the West Lothian banner in the shape of a 31-16 victory over Robert Crawford.

Aitken was another to force his opposition onto the backfoot over the opening exchanges and included three counts of 4 as he skipped Bryan Cooper Gerry Duggan and Calum Logan into a 20-5 lead after 10-ends.

Then a mighty 5 at the 13th helped Aitken and Co carry on to triumph 30-19 over Graeme Forsyth.

Archer was always doing just enough to skip Ewan Shearer Ian Laverie and Raymond Logan into a 13-7 lead then a mighty 5 at the 16th set them up for a 23-13 success over Ian Crawford.

Mann still had it all to do at 14-13 down after 17-ends but did it with a strong finish of 3, (1), 2, 4 to skip Frazer Muirhead, Walter McDougall and Alec Allan to a 22-15 win over Kenny Johnstone.

Smith shaped up as commander in chief of the WL troop when skipping Stewart McMaster, James Speirs and Steven Fleming into an 18-3 lead after 13-ends but came under late pressure to win 23-18 against Stuart White.

Speirs and his rink of Cameron Greer, Ian Robertson and Sandy McDougall suffered lean times from 6-4 up to 16-6 down and lost 25-14 to Neil McNally.

The other results in the East section were Midlothian 114 -93 Stirling C East, West Fife 112-122 East Lothian, Edinburgh & Leith 103-102 Fife.

West Lothian clash with Midlothian at Broxburn this Saturday and an unchanged team means returning host club number one George Sneddon is confined to the reserve bench.

EWAN Wilson of Deans is through to the third round of the WLBA Junior Open for The Fred Meikle Trophy.

He won in dramatic style having followed up a 21-8 win over David Rodgers of Harrysmuir in Section A with a 21-20 success over 2007 champion Blair Mackie of Newbridge.

Dean McLaughlin (Uphall Station), Adam Gilliland (Bankton Mains), and Paul Barrett of Deans (21-15 winner over Kenny Black of East Calder ) are also through.

Scott Logan of Broxburn is the Section B headliner with the 21-15 scalp of junior cap Cameron Greer of Bathgate having also defeated Mark McCullagh of Uphall Station, 21-12. Brother Calum of Kirkliston also progressed with two wins.

The Logans are joined by Scott McMaster of Broxburn and James Greenock of Newbridge.

Barry Nicholson (Broxburn), Gary Callaghan (Bankton Mains), Liam Fairley (Deans), and Kenny Miller (Buchan Park) remain fighting in Section C. Meanwhile Kevin McConnell (Armadale), Greg Baldry (Bankton Mains), Stuart Bremner (Newbridge) and Colin Cruickshank (Pumpherston) still stand in Section D.

Baldry produced a magnificent result in the shape of a 21-17 win over full cap Thomas Mann of Newbridge in the second round.

THE prelim round results in the WLBA County Championships are: Singles – Oakbank 7-21 Bathgate, Middleton Hall 20-21 Uphall Station, Pumpherston 21-15 Bellsburn.

Pairs – Glenmavis 27-2 Deans, Bankton Mains 16-21 Kinneil, Mid Calder 14-20 Stoneyburn.

Triples – Watson Memorial 12-17 West Calder, Philpstoun 13-12 Queensferry, Armadale 22-18 Blackburn.

Fours – Bo’ness 18-9 Harrysmuir, Whitburn 19-8 Bridgeness, Polbeth 13-17 Linlithgow.

The first round action takes place around the County tonight (Thursday).