East Lothian icon figure Alex ‘Tattie’ Marshall MBE was forced into a late change of pair’s partner in the World Indoor Pairs Championships after his long-time partner Paul Foster MBE had to return home to Scotland following a sudden and unexpected family bereavement. Neil Furman of the USA was the highest ranked WBT player available, so he stepped in to play with Marshall.
Read MoreThey lined up against the highly talented English pairing of Mark Dawes and Jamie Chestney in last Saturday’s quarter-final action at Potters Leisure Resort in Norfolk. The English pairing put a great display of bowling in the opening set and won it 8-1. Marshall and his American partner rallied into the second set and going into the final end trailed by one shot but needed a count of two to take the match into a tiebreak. It was not to be as the Dawes/Chestney partnership played a great last end and progressed through to the semi-final. Marshall turned his attention to the singles on Wednesday when the record six-times champion lined up against New Zealand qualifier Andrew Kelly in the first round of the flagship event of the two-week bowling festival. Before that Marshall’s garden county clubmate, John McCrorie was competing on the famous portable rink on Tuesday when he faced a mouth-watering clash first round clash against fellow Scot and Number 5 seed David Gourlay. Alex Marshall is also in World Mixed Pairs action tomorrow (Friday) evening (7.30pm) when he teams up with fellow Scot Julie Forrest and they tackle the all England pairing of Greg Harlow and Katherine Rednall in the opening round.
East Lothian IBC men’s side saw their grip in the race for qualifying honours in the B section of the Scottish Premier League loosened considerably when the stars of the garden county suffered an 88-69 shot defeat away to Falkirk. The aim going to fixture number seven of the 10 match was to achieve a win that would keep them two points clear of nearest challengers West Lothian. As it transpired West Lothian recorded a good away win at Ardrossan to join East Lothian at the top of table on 10 points with Falkirk back in third on 8. East Lothian is still at the head of affairs on shot aggregate but only by a single shot. “Given how high the stakes were for us our level of performance was a bit lack lustre from start to finish and we were beaten by the better team on the day”, said an East Lothian spokesperson.
Trouble at the mill for the visitors started with the rink of Calum Darling, Glen Blair, Jamie Higgins and Scott Kennedy crashing to a heavy double figure defeat. And with Falkirk thirsting for the win the home team dealt out further defeats to the rinks skipped by Billy Mellors and Graham Robertson. Commonwealth Games bound Derek Oliver and his front three of Mark Yuill, Lewis Betts and Stewart Thomson produced the only positive outcome after producing a magnificent comeback from 14-5 down to eventually win 19-18. The side will hope to bounce back to winning ways immediately on Saturday when they have home carpet advantage against Ardrossan. Kevin Cunningham is handed his seasonal debut while Andrew Jeffrey is recalled to the line-up and they will form a brand new front end on the rink skipped by Scott Kennedy. Calum Darling and Glenn Blair are the players sidelined in a strongly formed team that reads; M.Yuill, L.Betts, S.W.Thomson, D.Oliver skip E.Fallen, W.W.Wood MBE, J.Mower, G.Robertson skip M.Johnston, D.Sked, D.Riva, B.Mellors skip A.Jeffrey, K.Cunningham, J.Higgins, S.Kennedy skip
The high-flying ladies side continue to fly high in their campaign to capture the top of the table honours in the East Premier Division of the Scottish Ladies League and having hit the heights for the seventh consecutive fixture they remain four points ahead of nearest challengers Midlothian, albeit have played one game more. The sparkling stars from the Alex Marshall Arena are over the moon that their latest home clash with Bainfield resulted in a whopping 43 shot victory (97-54) having produced a strong team performance to win on all four rinks.
“A great performance from the team in a high-quality match. To come away with a victory on all four rinks just adds to the confidence within the squad. One more victory at the weekend sees us into the knockout stages and that is our goal”, said team manager Gordon Pryde. Pre-match drama saw Pryde resolve a late call-off from ace back-end player Janet Fairnie by pushing Nancy McNeill up from second to skip and bringing in experienced campaigner Cathy Ward from the bench.
Team captain Lauren Baillie inspired the EL effort by skipping Jacky McFarlane, Arlene Berwick and Gillian Mackintosh to a 29-12 win over Isa Wilson while Margaret Devine, Margaret Murray, Cathy Ward and stand in skip Nancy McNeill added a 24-11 success win over Isobel Anderson. Emma Logan skipped Megan Kivlin, Kim Hoggan and Dee Hoggan to a 22-12 win over Marion Dickson while Yvonne Veitch skipped Melissa Penman, Jean Russell and Mags Thomson to a battling 22-19 win over Anna Anderson. The side enter the lion’s den at Midlothian on Saturday where the face the ultimate challenge of trying to defeat a team who are normally invincible at home to clinch a place in the playoff finals. Team manager Gordon Pryde has named the following line-up for the Super Saturday fixture. M.Kivlin, K.Hoggan, D.Hoggan, E.Logan skip M.Penman, M.Thomson, Y.Veitch, J.Fairnie skip M.Devine, M.Murray, C.Ward, N.McNeill skip J.McFarlane, A.Berwick, G.Mackintosh, L.Baillie skip/capt
The senior side clinched the qualifying honours from the East B section of the Scottish Senior League when they coasted to a 74-39 home win over closest rivals Bainfield in the climax to the section play last Wednesday. The outcome reflects a strong team performance with wins chalked up by the rinks skipped by Tommy Young (+22), Willie Wood (+10) and Dougie Berwick (+3) while the rink skipped by Alastair Russell peeled.
The prize for winning the section was a place in Wednesday’s national quarterfinals and East Lothian were drawn against East A section table toppers Alloa, with the tie being played at neutral venue of West Lothian IBC in Livingston. Meanwhile there was to be no joy for the East Lothian rink of Tommy Moffat, Billy Higgins, Alastair Russell and Willie Wood MBE
In last Sunday’s continued play in the National Senior Fours playdowns. Despite having home carpet advantage, they failed to deliver and suffered a very disappointing 20-11 second round defeat against Midlothian. Rosemary Mackintosh was also in action in the National Ladies Senior Singles playdowns and she suffered a second round exit, losing 21-5 against Celia Smith of East Fife.
The ever-popular Jock Brodie Senior Championships got underway on Wednesday. The popular tournament for the ‘auld yins’ is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, again it has attracted a healthy 10 teams from the length, and breadth of Scotland will participate. For a remarkable eighteenth successive year well know Haddington businessman Norman T Craig has kindly agreed to sponsor the tournament which is staged every Wednesday. The opening week matches featured West Lothian against Tweedbank and Midlothian tackling Abbeyview.
A mixed side from East Lothian IBC progressed through to next stage of the Scottish Under 35 Cup following two good wins against Abbeyview/East Fife and host club Midlothian in last Sunday’s first qualifying round action. The side now head to East Fife IBC on Sunday March 11 for the second qualifying round.
A side from East Lothian IBC are in preliminary round Scottish Mixed Team Championship action on Sunday against local rivals Bainfield at the neutral venue of Midlothian IBC in Dalkeith (2pm).
After a lengthy break, the youth side from East Lothian IBC return to East of Scotland Junior League action on Saturday morning when they entertain Alloa at the Alex Marshall Arena. The selectors have announced the following side:- B.Riva, L.Kennedy, K.Dodds, R.Shields skip M.Penman, C.Pryde, R.Buchanan, L.Betts skip L.Hogg, C.Henderson, A.Betts, D.Stevenson skip