Bowls: Scots titles for Craigentinny trio and Carrick Knowe fours

Published on Friday 29 July 2011 13:12

Teenager Josh Spalding of Craigentinny felt the pain of defeat in the final of the Junior Singles of the Prostate Cancer Charity Bowls Scotland Championships at Ayr Northfield but the team experienced the joys of victory in the Triples with club champion Andrew Caldwell skipping Darren Smith and Gary Nisbet to the title in the climax yesterday.

And the large Edinburgh support cheered a second title success in the Men's event with James Hogg skipping his Carrick Knowe front-three of Graham Pringle, Craig Aitken and Richard Tough to the Fours title.

Gifford came close to clinching a third title success for the Lothian area but East Lothian champions Magnus Martin (subbing for Alex Marshall) and David Sked got stuck in the bowlers' graveyard of 13 and conceded a 4 and a 2 to lose 16-13 to Wellington Park in the Doubles.

Andrew Caldwell's only previous visit to the five-green complex at Northfield was in 2005 when he won the Junior Singles title and the prospects of a second success looked bright when wiping out a 6-1 deficit to cross Barry Conlan, Alan McLelland and Alastair McMillan of Port William, 12-7.

The highlight of that nine-end spell came at the eighth in the shape of a super 6, however at 13-9 it was the opposition that started to shine and a run of 1, 1, 2 saw the destination of the title well and truly in the melting pot at 13-13 playing the last, the double to peels coming as the result of McMillan blasting the jack out of play then frustrating Craigentinny by winning the replayed end.

The 15th and final end again saw Craigentinny build up the better head but McLelland caused a great buzz in the crowd when he crashed the jack into the ditch to hold what promised to be the title-winning shot.

Spalding had not long since lost his final and Craigentinny now feared further disappointment but providence was at hand in the shape of a wing and a prayer third delivery from Nisbet. "A dead draw close to the edge of the ditch was proving to be extremely difficult but you don't want to fail short so I put a yard on in the hope of promoting one of our own bowls and I was lucky enough to get a shoulder and slither on to hold shot," explained Nisbet.

The anxious moments that followed saw Caldwell wisely elect to protect the title-holding bowl with three blockers and they proved effective enough to trigger a victory roar that would have rocked Edinburgh Castle.

"It's a massive win for us at it also means we will compete for the British Isles title next year," said Caldwell.

Meanwhile, events on a different green had the Edinburgh support dashing back and forth - after the defeat of Spalding on yet another green - to keep up to date with the Carrick Knowe rink playing their final against Stranraer West End.

That wonder bowl from James Hogg against Port Seton in the second round - as reported in the Evening News - demanded a happy ending and having gone on to reach the final the picture looked good as Carrick Knowe opened up leads of 9-3 and 12-7 entering the second last, but danger did lurk in a clump of opposition bowls that just needed slight movement of the jack to make them count.

Opposition skip Alan Hainey just failed by a fraction to achieve that, then in a bold last-bowl effort to kill off Stranraer, Hogg attempted to run the jack to the ditch but only did so after breaking off a bowl and he counted 2 to lead 14-7.

"Holding a seven-shot lead going into the last end did make us odds on to capture the title but we all died a few deaths with James's strike as he came close to snicking the jack in the wrong direction," said Pringle.

Carrick Knowe won 14-8 and Hogg was not only adding to the national pairs title he won in 2008 but celebrating the good news that he had deservedly earned a place in Scotland's international trial line up.

Sixteen-year-old Josh Spalding had lit up the Junior Singles with a series of sparkling performances but his form was shaded in the fierce limelight of the final although he battled well from 14-3 down to lose 21-17 to a consistent Andrew Tattersall of Castlehill (Carluke).

"It's a massive win for us at it also means we will compete for the British Isles title next year" andrew caldwell