The McKellar Top Five trophy was played to a conclusion last Sunday when the finals were held at Tranent and EL Co-op. Quarter final action during the previous week had seen Port Seton, Elphinstone, EL Co-op & Haddington make it through to the semi-finals.
Read MoreIn the East Coast Carpets League One the three teams fighting it out for the title all won their respective games last week. Leaders Port Seton maintained their top position with an 8-0 win at home to Elphinstone whilst EL Co-op remained one point behind as they also won 8-0 away to Dunbar. Third placed Haddington are now six points behind as they recorded a 7-1 win at home to Castlepark. The other fixtures seen Tranent defeat Winton 5-3 whilst East Linton travelled to Prestongrange and also recorded an excellent 5-3 victory. With Dunbar now looking doomed to drop down to Division Two, other than the race for the title the other decision to be remedied is who joins Dunbar in Division Two. Friday night’s results now mean that East Linton remain second bottom, however they are now within two points of Castlepark and four points behind Tranent and Winton whilst Elphinstone and Prestongrange could still be dragged into the scrap. This week league leaders Port Seton visit Castlepark, while second placed EL Co-op travel to Winton. Haddington also face an away trip and a potential banana skin when they travel up the A1 to Tranent, East Linton will be looking to move out of the second relegation spot when they host Dunbar and the winner of the Elphinstone v Prestongrange fixture will surely feel they have secured their 2020 league position.
County female stars Lauren Baillie-Whyte and Dee Hoggan were representing Scotland in a three test series against Australia last week in Leamington Spa. In the first test Dee and Lauren teamed up in the pairs and recorded a 15-13 victory before Dee then played singles and recorded an impressive 21-14 win over Australian legend Karen Murphy, while Lauren skipped the rink which won 22-11. Lauren and Dee then teamed up again in the triples along with Rebecca Houston and were just pipped by one shot, however, the previous victories ensured Scotland claimed the first test. In the second test singles play was the order of the day. Lauren defeated Samantha Shannahan 21-18 whilst Dee defeated Kelsey Cottrell 21-20. The remainder of the Scotland team only recorded one win between them meaning Australia took the second test. Scotland got off to the perfect start in the third test with Lauren skipping Emma McIntyre to a 17-11 pairs win whilst Dee was part of the triple which claimed an 18-10 victory. In the second session of the test Dee was in top form in the singles yet again with a 21-8 win whilst Lauren skipped the four which lost out 7-15 to a strong Aussie four. In session number three the girls both lost out with Lauren being edged out 11-14 in a pairs game whilst Dee was involved in a triples game where the Aussies powered to a 22-8 win. The fourth and deciding session in the final test match seen Scotland claim the points they required to win the test and the overall series. Dee again led the way with her fourth singles win of the tests as she recorded a 21-9 win. Lauren again skipped the ladies four and were defeated 20-8 by the Aussies. The 2-1 Test win was an excellent one for the Scottish team and their own performances will have put Dee and Lauren in the thoughts of High Performance Manager David Gourlay as he considers his team for the World Championships in 2020.
Next week is the biggest week in the Scottish bowling calendar as the National Finals take place at Ayr Northfield. First up on Sunday the Mixed Pairs gets underway in which Janet Fairnie and Raymond Frame of Castlepark are in action. Then on Monday the Seniors and Juniors competitions begin in which the Garden County are represented by Stewart Johnston (Ormiston) and Yvonne Veitch (EL Co-op) in the Over 55 singles while James Hogg, Robert Scott, Davie Pryde & Billy Cormack (Macmerry) and Moira Buchanan, Maureen Thomson, Audrey Podlinski & Aileen Dyer (Aberlady) are in the senior fours. In the Junior Singles are Calum Darling (Haddington) and Megan Kivlin (EL Co-op). On Wednesday the Pairs and Fours commence in which our representatives are Stevie Kirk & Malcolm Higgenbotham (Haddington) and Kim & Dee Hoggan (Tranent) in the Pairs and the Fours of Kenny McCrorie, Davie Sands, Adam Martin & Graham Robertson (Tranent) and Kate Cowan, Moira Buchanan, Amanda Robertson & Melissa Penman (Aberlady). The Singles get underway on Thursday where we are represented by Gordon White (Aberlady) and Megan Kivlin (EL Co-op) whilst the Triples also begins with our entries of Mark Riding, Steven Cochrane & Colin Glen (Elphinstone) and Arlene Berwick, Yvonne Veitch & Megan Grantham (EL Co-op) in action. Following the finals of these events on Saturday the Youths take centre stage on Sunday were East Lothian are represented by Singles – Logan Kennedy (Cockenzie & Port Seton), Pairs – Beth Riva & Kieran Dodds (EL Co-op) and Triples – Dylan Veitch, Robbie Bennion & Arran Porteous (Castlepark). A summary of results at the time of writing will be available in next week’s report while up to date results are available on the Bowls Scotland web pages.
The East Lothian Seniors pulled themselves back into contention in the Matt Purdie Trophy at the half way stage with a hard fought three shot win over Midlothian at a sun drenched Dunbar on Monday. Captain Tom Young led the way, and his rink, on his home green with an inspiring 20-8 win over J Miller. His rink were ably backed up by Ali Russell’s rink who defeated the rink of Lindsay Plenderleith 14-10. The rink of George Cowan were three up with four to play but lost seven shots over the those ends to lose out by four to Willie Rankin whilst Keith Fender’s rink suffered a similar fate as they led by five with three to play, only to lose eight shots in those ends to lose by three to Drew Pearson. The rink of Andy Burt fought back from twelve down to lose by six at the end of their game against George Yuill’s rink. The seniors are next in action in two weeks at EL Co-op and the team was due to be selected at East Linton on Thursday.
You must be logged in to post a comment.