East Lothian world stage star Alex ‘Tattie’ Marshall added another prestigious title to his already impressive CV when he captured the inaugural Bowls Scotland Super Series Singles title at Kelvingrove in Glasgow last Sunday.
For Marshall it was successful, if not emotional, returning to the same greens where a year ago he won two gold medals in the Commonwealth Games. His opponent in the final was none other than the Glasgow 2014 men’s singles winner Darren Burnett. In tricky windy conditions both players put in a determined effort and things looked very bleak for Marshall when trailed 16-11 but then he produced a strong finish to beat Burnett 21-18 and claim the £3000.00 first prize up for grabs. “It was always going to be a hard game against Darren,” said Marshall afterwards.
“Darren is a very hard competitor to beat but I got off to a fairly good start, but conditions were rather tricky this afternoon with the wind. I think we both felt that. There were some good ends as well as scrappy ends but I’m very happy to win. “Coming here, I always thought if I played well I had a chance but three were so many good bowlers here who had the chance to win the Super Series. “I was happy with the way I played in a few games and in a few others not so happy. It’s all on the day and I’m very happy to win the Super Series for the first time.”
Newly crowned league champions Tranent Bowling Club have capped a tremendous season for them by etching their name on the prestigious Jubilee Cup having fielded a team of stars that sparkled with victory over Cockenzie & Port Seton in the final of the ELBA Top Ten played at East Linton BC last Saturday.
The final was a cracking affair and the overall match scoreline was tied at 4-4 but a whopping win in the Pairs for Tranent tipped the match scales in their favour with a shot surplus of 16 over the seasiders. “We approached the final with a strong focus knowing that Cockenzie & Port Seton would be formidable opposition so it is a great pleasure to have played so well as a team and be rewarded with the title”, said a Tranent spokesperson.
Newly crowned national pairs champions Jim Bonner and Brian Young played the major role for Tranent as they delivered an inspiring and match winning result when they inflicted 33-6 misery on Ronnie Branley and Steven Morgan. The Pairs win supported the efforts of Kevin Cunningham, Davie Sands, Kevin Jones and Mathew Osborne who had signalled the signs of a ‘belters’ victory after registering a 20-14 triumph over Tommy Thomson, Gordon Baillie, John Gearty and Colin Leishman. The result in the Singles if often critical to the overall outcome of the match so it was an encouraging start for Cockenzie & Port Seton when there record breaking club champion Derek Oliver delivered a tremendous 21-7 win over Tranent’s icon figure John McCrorie. Oliver’s win was supported by Jamie Gordon, Steven Thomson and Craig Valentine, courtesy of a 16-13 win over Alex Cormack, Davie Whitson and Jamie Higgins in the Triples but it was not enough to save the day for the former national title holders. Tranent now go forward and represent East Lothian in the national tournament in 2016 and they received news earlier this week that they will face Aberdeen & Kincardine champions Inverurie at home in the preliminary round action on Sunday May 15.
West Barns hopes of making a successful defence of the Inter-County Top 5 Singles title were ended last Sunday when they suffered a quarter-final defeat at West Lothian champions Linlithgow last Sunday.
The club champions throughout the county have been battling it out over the past couple of weeks for the right to claim the prestigious ELBA Champion of Champions title. The event will reach its climax tomorrow (Saturday) as Haddington BC stage the tournament’s finals day, with all the action commencing at 12.30pm. Meanwhile the climax to the ELBA John McDonald Trophy tournament for the seniors was all set to be staged yesterday (Thursday) and was also being staged at Haddington BC.
East Lothian BA has announced that the Courier Cup will be staged at EL-Coop BC in Tranent on Saturday September 19th. The end of season showpiece event will feature all the evening league winners namely Tranent (Division 1), Prestongrange (Division 2), Haddington A (Division 3) and Cockenzie & Port Seton B (Division 4).
Its congratulations to Mark Riding after he beat Raymond ‘Banger’ Strang 21-5 to be crowned king of Elphinstone for a third time in four years.
Haddington Bowling Club hosted the Alan Bell Memorial Fours tournament last Saturday and 64 bowlers took part for a serious but fun day in aid of charity. Ian ‘Dinger’ Bell, the current East Lothian player/manager, opened the proceedings in memory of his late father who was a stalwart figure at Haddington for many years. The eventual winners of the tournament were Dougie Kennedy, Colin Kennedy, Kevin Thomson and Alister Kennedy. All the players donated their prizemoney to various cancer charities and after a large raffle and auction the total raised on the day was in the region of £1000.00 and some donations still to come in.
The doors at East Lothian Indoor Bowling Club flew open yesterday (Thursday) for the new indoor season and the opening times for the first week are 10am-12noon and 6.30-8.30pm. The opening week will be in the main for membership payment and practice games at £1.00. The club will open on a full-time basis from Thursday September 17. Anyone wishing to enter a new team in the leagues (evening, ladies, mixed or morning) should contact the Match Secretary as soon as possible. Entries are now being taken for the Top Club tournament which will be staged from November onwards with all matches taking place on Friday evenings during the 6.30-8.30pm session. Each team will consist of 3 rinks and is open to both male and females of all ages. Entry fee is £20.00.
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