Stewart Meikle’s Bowls

Jul 8 2010 by Stewart Meikle, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian step up their defence of the Cities and Counties Championship for the Andrew H Hamilton Trophy against chief title rivals Lanarkshire South at Gorebridge this coming Sunday.

It’s a clash against the recent 2006 and 2008 champions that has come earlier than expected due to Lanarkshire South under-performing in their qualifying section .

Indeed the Lanarkshire South team only squeezed into second place with a scrambled away win over Wigtownshire in the last of their section matches and came very close to not making the final stages.

Lanarkshire South, however, could well improve a ton for the clash with West Lothian this weekend given their competitive instinct and strong mix of talent and personality especially as Gorebridge is a venue is known as touch player’s paradise.

West Lothian though hold most of the aces in terms of form and individuals of outstanding abilities.

And the West Lothian team will be driven by a hungry appetite to go on and make local history as the first team from the county to retain the much coveted Hamilton Trophy.

Going by the form book West Lothian will be the favourites but they will have to be at their peak if they are to bring the trophy back to the county.

The West Lothian players charged with delivering on that challenge are:

Rink One – Bryan Cooper, Gerry Duggan, Calum Logan and John Aitken.

Rink Two – Ewan Shearer, Ian Laverie, Raymond Logan and Graeme Archer.

Rink Three – Mark Allison, Andrew Dunnett, Blair Mackie and Grant Logan.

Rink Four – Frazer Muirhead, Walter McDougall, Alec Allan and Thomas Mann.

Rink Five – Stewart McMaster, James Speirs, George Sneddon and Gary Smith.

Rink Six – Cameron Greer, Steven Forrest, Sandy McDougall and Neil Speirs.

Reserves - Steven Fleming and Kenny Miller.

The other quarter finals this weekend feature Dumfriesshire v Midlothian; Renfrewshire West v Highland; and Angus v Ayrshire.

LOCAL heroes David Ross and Sandy McDougall of Glenmavis suffered great disappointment with a semi final exit in the semi final stage of the Pairs at the British Isles Championships down at Worthing last weekend.

But the national champions did experience a fantastic moment when defeating their counterparts from England in the preliminary round – after intense extra end drama.

The Scottish Champions showed great character to shrug off a 9-2 deficit and zip into an 18-9 lead Martin Pavey and Jamie Lockwood.

However, their world looked likely to fall apart in the later stages.

England carded a two at the second last then burnt the last before carding a three on the replay – just denied a match winning fourth by an umpires measure – to peel the score at 22-22.

The extra end decider had Worthing on tenterhooks with England holding shot until McDougall replicated his Braveheart effort in his national final by boldly and expertly serving up a last bowl winner.

The semi final against Guernsey later in the day saw the Scotland partnership forced onto the back foot with a 10-1 deficit and although closing to 14-11 they slipped to a 20-14 defeat from Kris Bichard and Dan de la Mare.

Guernsey led Ireland 15-11 in the final but later found themselves involved in an extra end climax and lost 16-15 to Brian Hughes and Gary Kelly of Ireland.

Scotland as a nation did win the Nat West Trophy however having their points tally boosted by title wins by Allister Reid in the Singles and Glaisnock Valley in the Fours.

Martyn Rice lost to England in the final of the Junior Singles while New Abbey lost in the preliminary round of the Triples.

WEST Lothian launched their campaign in the Inter County League for The Matt Purdie Trophy with a 63-49 win over Edinburgh and Leith at Balerno on Monday.

Ronnie Martin skipped Mike Forde Denis Cavanagh and Jim Johnstone to a 26-6 win over Gordon Smith while Davy Brash Gordon Scott Gordon Kain and Gordon Logan added a 21-7 win over Alex Walker.

E&L did make an impression with Bob Linton returning a 17-2 win over Lawson Trotter Donnie McKillop Kenny Ferguson and Robert McIvor while Tony McLaren edged a 19-15 result over Frank Weir Denis Crowe Jim Arthur and Jimmy Davidson.

West Lothian continue against Stirlingshire at Bridgeness this Monday coming.

SCOTLAND’S international team enjoyed a triumphant time at Worthing having recovered from a shock opening defeat from Wales to re-capture the Home title and win it for a record extending 41st time.

Managed by George Sneddon and captained by Darren Burnett the Scot’s roared back from a 114-99 defeat from Wales to crush Ireland 149-80 then in a final match decider battled to a 119-102 success over England to take back the national title.

The final encounter saw Grant Logan make a great start to skip Ewan Shearer Iain McLean and Robert Marshall into a 10-3 lead over Robert Newman then at 17-12 they produced an inspiring finishing run of 1, 1, 2, 3, 4 1 to win 29-12.

Graeme Archer was against the collar at 15-7 and 16-10 down but staged a magnificent fight back with a run of 1, 3, 1, 1, 2, 3 to skip Colin Peacock Thomas Mann and Robert Grant to a 21-16 win over Jamie Chestney.

Alex Marshall came racing off an 8-12 pace to skip Jim Meikle Colin Walker and Derek Oliver into a 20-12 lead an on to a 21-16 win over Stephen Farish.

David Peacock skipped Sandy Wotherspoon Billy Mellors and Alister Kennedy into a strong 18-7 lead before settling for a 22-18 win over Stuart Airy.

Darren Burnett and his rink of Wayne Hogg Graeme Campbell and Gary Smith stood 16-16 before slipping to a 21-17 defeat from Graham Shadwell while Martyn Rice Jim Gilruth Neil Speirs and Willie Wood conceded 1, 5, 2 on the run in and lost 19-9 to Sam Tolchard.