Balbardie IBC have an excellent record in the Scottish Team Championship event with title triumphs achieved in seasons 1994 and 2007; the 2015 campaign is shaping up well with their mixed gender team of ten now through to the semi-finals.
The Bathgate based club faced tough opposition in their recent quarterfinal match at Stirling, coming in the shape of twice runners-up Tweedbank and the outcome was a shot margin victory for Balbardie after a 4-4 share of the points. Tweedbank drew first blood with the 21-16 defeat of Balbardie spearhead figure Peter Lynch in the Singles, coming after a hard fought battle with his Border opponent, and they also suffered a disappointing outcome in the Pairs. The picture in the Pairs had looked rosy at one stage for the high profile partnership of Brian Craig (The WL Master) and Lorraine Malloy (Commonwealth Games Internationalist) who had built up a 14-8 supremacy after twelve-ends. A rapid change of landscape however saw the severe loss of 2, 6, 4, 1 transform the scoreline to 21-14 against Balbardie and despite a late flurry the partnership suffered a 22-19 defeat. The dark clouds did have a silver lining however and it was two-fold starting with a spectacular 34-13 win for the rink comprising Morven Shearer, Margo Duff, Ritchie Templeton, and Ewan Shearer. Shearer and Co made a blitz start that powered them into a 14-1 lead after six ends and by end 13 they were 23-5 ahead and well on the way to a substantial victory. Balbardie needed a second victory and it was delivered in the Triples by the trio of Kim Ross, Sharon Leitch, and Walter McDougall in the shape of a 19-9 win that was derived from a strong start to lead 10-3 after 10-ends. The semi final opposition to Balbardie at East Fife IBC on Sunday March 22 comes in the shape of defending champions Arbroath who crushed Elgin 8-0 at Aberdeen. West of Scotland beat Glasgow, 5-3, while Blantyre beat Galleon 6-2. East Lothian face Coatbridge in today’s gents final of the Seniors League Cup at West of Scotland IBC ,
Lorraine Malloy, (Balbardie), Emma Brown (East Lothian), Jenifer Richardson (West Lothian), and Midlothian’s Gaynor Duncan and Stacey Laidlaw are part of the Scotland team competing over the weekend in the Home International Series at Stanley IBC, County Durham.