East Lothian Indoor Bowling Club young star Craig Mackintosh is gearing up for his television debut after he booked his place in the final of the prestigious SYIBA Young Masters Singles event.
15 year old Mackintosh battled his way through a top class young field at Abbeyview IBC in Dunfermline last Sunday to earn a crack at Stephen Lowrie of Glasgow in the Under 17 final that will be staged in front of the BBC TV cameras on the famous blue portable rink at the Dewars Centre in Perth on Friday November 13 at 10.30am. He will be cheered on by members at both his bowling clubs – London Road Foundary BC and East Lothian IBC – and many more on TV including his school-mates at Portobello High. “Absolutely delighted but at the same time quite nervous about it especially with it being screened live on TV so be rest assured I will be practising constantly until then”, said Mackintosh.
The men’s side from East Lothian IBC hopes of landing the spoils in the B section of the Scottish Premier League suffered a setback when they went down to a disappointing 3 shot home defeat against Falkirk last Saturday. The clash was played out on a knife-edge from start to finish and developed into an epic counter that went right down to the wire before Falkirk delivered the goods – especially on the final few ends – in a thrilling climax to clinch an 83-80 victory. To depart fortress East Lothian with full points was a great result for Falkirk and they were just about worthy winners albeit in such a closely fought battle the pendulum might well have swung in favour of the home side. Given the richness of class and history that drove the East Lothian effort it is a major disappointment in the final stages when the chips are down and the stakes so high to be outscored on your home carpet. “Very disappointing to lose our first home game of the season especially given the fact we held a 12 shot overall lead after 18 ends but huge credit to Falkirk they finished the game superbly and a couple of big counts across the carpet tipped the match in their favour” reflected team captain Scott Kennedy. Wins for the rinks skipped by Billy Mellors (+11) and Scott Kennedy (+6) paled into insignificance as their international colleagues Alex Marshall (-10) and Derek Oliver (-10) tumbled to damaging defeats.
It’s a free weekend for the men’s side tomorrow (Saturday) as the National Junior Singles playdown action takes centre stage and club champion Ewan Fallen is in action at Abbeyview IBC in Dunfermline. The junior cap faces a preliminary round encounter tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 11am against Raymond Clark of Fraserburgh. The ladies playdown action also takes place at Abbeyview IBC but commences on Sunday and the local challenger is full cap Emma Logan and she faces talented youngster Kimberley Dodds of Falkirk in the first round action at 10am.
Meanwhile ladies club champion Dee Hoggan was in National Singles playdown action last weekend at Arbroath IBC and went into the event with high hopes but she failed to find her very best form and bowed out with a 21-16 defeat from former internationalist Mandy O’Donnell of Bainfield.
Alex Marshall MBE is on international duty this weekend when he is part of a Scotland side competing in a gent’s test match against auld enemy England at Stanley IBC in County Durham. Marshall joins forces with fellow Scots Paul Foster MBE (Prestwick Ambassador), Iain McLean, Stewart Anderson (both Blantyre), Colin Walker (Midlothian) and Mike Stepney (Elgin).
The ladies side are back in Scottish Ladies League action tomorrow (Saturday) when they make the trip down the A68 to Galashiels to tackle Border rivals Tweedbank. Ace skip Janet Fairnie is a significant absentee and is joined on the unavailable list by Margaret Devine. Team manager Sheena Currie has addressed the situation by recalling Muriel Hamilton and talented youngster Megan Kivlin to a slightly reshuffled line-up which reads:- D.Rowan, P.Turner, N.McNeil, Y.Veitch skip M.Murray, J.Russell, A.Irvine, E.Logan skip M.Kivlin, C.Jones, M.Hamilton, M.Thomson skip A.Barclay, I.Combe, G.Mackintosh, L.Baillie skip
The senior side celebrated an excellent derby away win in last Wednesday’s action in the East B section of the Scottish Senior League as the garden county ‘auld yins’ crushed rivals Midlothian 73-52. Good wins on the rinks skipped by Alastair Russell and Peter Laidlaw plus a peel for Tom Young delivered the positive result with the major contribution being a 29-6 success for Kenny Morgan, B J Smith, Ron Douglas and Russell over Alex Cox. The home sides sole success was a surprising 24-8 win for the impressive Lindsay Plenderleith over Willie Wood MBE. The side was back in action on Wednesday when they welcomed foot of the table Tweedbank to the Alex Marshall Bowling Arena.
There was mixed fortunes for the East Lothian representatives in last Sunday’s national senior championships playdown action. Senior club champion Alastair Russell travelled to West Lothian IBC to participate in the singles and he reeled off two excellent wins to book his place in the second round and will now tackle Robert McIvor of Balbardie. The strong looking partnership of Jim Robertson and Willie Wood MBE represented the local banner in the pair’s event, also staged at West Lothian, and they received a bye into the first round proper before coming through a sterling test unscathed against Tweedbank to progress to the next round and now face Balbardie. The next rounds of both the singles and pairs will again be staged at West Lothian IBC on Sunday November 8. Lessel Middler, Peter Laidlaw and Tom Young carried the East Lothian banner into the triples action at Midlothian IBC but they crashed out 19-8 to East Fife at the first hurdle.
Cockenzie & Port Seton BC stage their annual Presentation of Prizes evening on Saturday November 7th from 6.30pm. Tickets for the event are now on sale to members and guests priced at £8.50 (includes 2 course meal & top class live entertainment) and can be purchased by contacting President Steven Morgan on 07861 672123.
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