Carrick Knowe have iced the cake of a dazzling season on the lush bowling greens of the capital city by capturing the Edinburgh Top Ten crown, and doing so with a spectacular win over major rivals Craigentinny in the final played at Balerno.
Read MoreThe Top Ten title is a pathway into the National Championship the following season so the stakes were high in a head to head that, in terms of Edinburgh Bowling League form, pitched the recent Division 1 champions against their Division 4 counterparts.
Carrick Knowe were the Division 4 king pins in a season that also saw them crowned Edinburgh Cup monarchs so they weren’t out of their depth and proved it with an absolute rule performance to win 8-0. “We knew we had to be on our toes and have a strong mental attitude against such strong opposition and it is great when your game plan works out. The Top Ten is one of the majors so displaying the silverware in the trophy cabinet brings a morale uplift to the club”.
The thoughts of icon figure Colin Mitchell who played his part by skipping Kevin Tennant to a 15-13 win over Josh Spalding and Andy Caldwell after a hard fought battle in the Pairs. The early picture had looked bleak for them with Craigentinny carding 3, 2, 4 to lead 9-2 however Tennant and Mitchell transformed the landscape to cross 14-10 then went on to answer last end pressure with a points clinching single.
James Hogg is the club champion at Carrick Knowe; but it was Richard Tough that was delegated the responsibilities of playing the spearhead role in the Singles and he rose to that challenge by delivering a 21-14 win over Scott Rogers.
Tough reeled off a hat trick of 2’s to open up a 12-4 lead; but found himself under pressure at 13-12 before carding 2, 1,3 to 15 then hitting 21 with a double three ends later. Hogg lined up in the Triples and produced an inspirational performance to skip Alan Poole and Graham Pringle into a 10-0 lead then onto a substantial 21-7 vicory over Kevin Hunter, Willie McDonald, and Danny Gormley.
Darren Hush was at the helm for Stephen Pringle, Johnny Priestley, and John Ramsay in the Fours and a slow start saw them trail 5-0 against Craig McCall, David Brown, Gordon Bold, and Andy Jeffrey. Hush closed to 8-7 then silenced the opposition with a purple patch run of 2, 2,1, 4 to 16 that set the scene for a comfortable 19-12 victory. “We were beaten by the better team on the day”, summed up Andy Caldwell for Craigenntinny.