East Lothian 26/5

Wins were posted on the rinks skipped by Scott Kennedy, John McCrorie, Glenn Blair, Brian Young, Billy Mellors and Scott Dodds, albeit all six were single figure triumphs. The garden county led from start to finish having established an early supremacy when stamping their authority over the home side that accelerated them into a 25 shot lead after five ends played. “A great win in miserable conditions and to get six winning rinks is a fantastic confidence booster ahead of another tough challenge against West Fife on Saturday”, said a delighted team manager Stewart Johnston.

Kennedy was in fine form to count at 15 of the 21 ends and emerged East Lothian’s top performer to skip Chris Johnston, Mark McCormack and Gordon White to a 24-16 win over Stewart White. McCrorie skipped Ross Thomson, John Carpenter Jnr and Stephen Cochrane to a win 22-17 win over Ian Crawford while Blair traded in on an early lead to skip Stewart Thomson, Adam Martin and Tommy Young to an 18-14 win over Scott Richardson. Young and his front three of Steven White, Scott Mackie and Billy Dunleavey celebrated a 23-19 success over Graeme Forsyth. Team captain Mellors finished strongly to clinch a 23-21 win over Robert Nichol while Dodds edged home 19-18 against Stuart Bebbington.

East Lothian entertains West Fife in Saturday’s match at Haddington BC and the team is without the presence of ace figures Glenn Blair and Scott Dodds. Great news for Team Manager Stewart Johnston is Gifford’s world stage star Alex Marshall MBE is available to play while Haddington star Joe Mower is introduced at third to Malcom Higgenbotham. D.Riva (Giff), M.Osborne (Tra), G.Dodds (ELCO), A.Marshall MBE (Giff) skip R.Thomson (ELCO), J.Carpenter Jnr (Athe), S.Cochrane (ELCO), J.McCrorie (Tra) skip C.Darling (Hadd), G.Pryde (ELCO), J.Mower (Hadd), M.Higgenbotham (Hadd) skip S.W.Thomson (Hadd), A.Martin (Tra), T.Young (Dun), B.Mellors (Hadd) skip/capt C.Johnston (Win), M.McCormack (Win), G.White (Aber), S.Kennedy (C&PS) skip   S.White (ELCO), S.Mackie (ELCO), B.Dunleavey (Aber), B.Young (ELCO) skip Any player selected who is unable to play is requested to contact team manager Stewart Johnston immediately on 07939 700720. All players requested to report directly at Haddington BC by no later than 1.20pm.

Meanwhile the Under 25 side hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the Scottish Under 25 League Cup remain alive after they produced a wonderful team performance to inflict 188-61 misery on Borders at Cockenzie & Port Seton BC last Sunday. The sensational margin of victory saw them consolidate their position at second in the East section but they remain 2 points adrift of leaders Edinburgh & Leith.

“Edinburgh & Leith still remain odds-on favourites to win the section but they have two games to go while we only have the one so it is important we remain focused and win our last game against Fife then hope for the best”, said team manager Michael Greenan. The most pleasing aspect for the garden county selectors is that the side delivered wins on all six rinks with five of the rinks managing double-digit margin triumphs. Vice team captain, Sam Gray claimed top honours and the sweepstake money as he skipped his rink to a whopping 42-4 win. Other rink scores were Declan French 33-10, Ross Thomson 36-5, Joe Mower 29-14, Reece Cochrane 29-14 and James Burnett 19-14. On Sunday, the side cross the Forth to tackle Fife County at Kennoway BC and team captain Glenn Blair is a returnee to the line-up. The team reads:- F.Pringle (C/P), R.French (Elph), L.Gallagher (W/B), S.Gray (C/P) skip S.Mackie (ELCO), Dean French (Elph), D.Riva (Giff), R.Cochrane (P/G) skip
S.Robertson (C/P), D.Peart (Long), J.Burnett (C/P), R.Thomson (ELCO) skip C.Innes (P/G), D.Young (ELCO), J.Robertson (Tra), Dec French (Elph) skip E.Leith (Long), S.Johnston (Orm), C.Darling (Hadd), J.Mower (Hadd) skip S.Clark (P/G), H.Cunningham (C&PS), C.Brock (Hadd), G.Blair (Hadd) skip/capt Reserves: – D.Stevenson (ELCO), K.Yule (P/G), M.Martin (Tra) Any player selected who is unable to play is requested to contact team convenor Stevie Greenan immediately on 07712 277681. All players requested to report directly to Kennoway BC by no later than 1.20pm.

The first-round action in the Scottish Inter County Top Ten Championship sponsored by Broxburn based firm Dechmont Forklift Trucks produced a good news outcome for East Lothian champions East Linton. They entertained West Lothian champions Linlithgow and were kick started by a hard-fought win for Graham Bell in the Singles. They suffered a major setback in the Triples with Calum Blair, Keith Fender and Grant Fender losing heavily but the home side fought back with George Cowan Jnr, Terry Sawangsuk, Mike Newlands and Stevie Kerr celebrating a triumph in the Fours while the Colin Murdoch/George Cowan Snr partnership added a victory in the Pairs to secure a 6-2 points success for the garden county representatives. This Sunday’s second round action sees East Linton have home advantage again when they face Argyll & Bute counterparts Campeltown BC with the action getting underway at 2pm.

The final of the Bowls Scotland Mixed Pairs will take centre stage at Gifford BC on Monday evening from 7pm. The pairing who emerged victorious will represent East Lothian in the national finals at Ayr Northfield in late July.

Defending champions Haddington were the headline news coming out of Division 1 of the East Coast Carpets sponsored East Lothian Leagues following their 8-0 demolition of possible fellow title contenders Cockenzie & Port Seton. The seasiders entered last Friday night’s fifth round of fixtures as leaders and with home green advantage were quietly confident of getting a result to consolidate their position at the top of the table. “We are still trying to work out what went wrong but the simple explanation is that Haddington fought like tigers and savaged us with an extra-ordinary away performance”, said a spokesman for Cockenzie & Port Seton. Billy Mellors and Glenn Blair enjoyed convincing wins over Steven Morgan and Scott Kennedy respectively while Alister Kennedy had a single shot success over Derek Oliver. After a shaky start, Haddington now sit in the lofty position of second top and just four points adrift of new leaders EL-Coop who continued their excellent start to the campaign with an 8-0 home win against Dunbar. Tranent bounced back to winning ways with a 6-2 home success against Castlepark while Aberlady were well pleased to come away from West Barns with a 4-4 draw. Gifford’s nightmare start continued when they lost a home to East Linton, 7-1.

Friday night’s action, Division 1 leaders EL-Coop have the chance to consolidate their position at the top of the table with home advantage over West Barns. Haddington face a tough away test at Castlepark while Cockenzie & Port Seton visit an Aberlady side that are going great guns since coming up as Division 2 champions. East Linton entertain Tranent while even this early in the season it is surely a must win game for Gifford when they play host to fellow early season strugglers Dunbar.

All club secretaries are requested to ensure that all league and cup results, including shots aggregate score, are phoned into ELBA Match Secretary Keith Fender on 01620 860217 or via text message 07786 110416 immediately after each match.

You can now keep up-to-date with all that is happening on the outdoor bowling scene in the garden county by following the website by East Lothian Bowling Association. All bowlers are urged to view by clicking on www.eastlothianbowls.com

Gifford Bowling & Sports Club are staging an Open Triples tournament on Saturday June 10 and entries are now being accepted by contacting Brian Bissett on 07903 541373.

Finally, officials at East Lothian Indoor Bowling Club have confirmed that the club will remain open during the summer months from 10am to 3pm daily (including weekends).