Bowls: West Lothian win second Premiership in a row

Published on 18/02/2013 01:41

It was a second successive Premiership title for West Lothian as they turned in a strong second-half performance in the Jack High Insurance National League final against Blantyre to win 81-67 in the title decider at Falkirk and bring their tally to six since the event was first played 50 years ago.

There was never much between the sides, Blantyre leading 37-34 after ten ends, while West Lothian edged the advantage in the second half, holding on over the closing stages for their 14-shot victory. Tommy Mann was their top skip and along with Cameron Greer, Ian Drysdale and James Speirs beat Brian Irvine’s team 24-14, Neil Speirs skipped Bryan Cooper, Douglas Mitchell and Des Hagart to a 22-14 win over Iain McLean and Callum Logan’s rink of Jamie Gracie, Blair Mackie and George Sneddon pipped Jim McCann on the last end 22-20. Blantyre’s consolation win came courtesy of Greg McLaughlin, Andy Mcrae, George Walker and skip Alex Kelly who finished 19-13 ahead of Mark Allison.