Portobello place faith in a mix of old and new

Published on Friday 10 October 2008 10:26

PORTOBELLO have home advantage when they face Headwell in their Division 2 indoor bowls league match tomorrow and attempt to bounce back from an opening-day defeat at Abbeyview last weekend.

New team members this season include teenagers Kerr McKail and Danny Gormley who join fellow 16-year-old Jamie Reid in the line-up but there is also a blast from the past with the recall of former international stars Andrew Binnie and Willie Paul.

All five players mentioned crossed the Forth for the opening fixture but there is one enforced change against Headwell with Davy McLeod coming in for the unavailable David Scott.

McLeod will lead to Ian Fleming allowing Robert Wood to take over from Scott at third to Andrew Caldwell. Stuart Betts and Darren McKenny are the other two skips.

Bainfield travel to Paisley in Section A of the Premier League but the Capital club are keeping team selection secret as they seek redemption for losing at home to Midlothian last week.

Midlothian tackle Auchinleck at Dalkeith and promote Ian Brown from third to skip in place of the unavailable Willie Rankin while the demotion of Tommy Russell to the reserve bench paves the way for Lindsay Plenderleith and Kenny McDougall coming in.

East Lothian travel to East Fife in Section B of the Premier League but do so without ace skips Willie Wood and Graham Robertson while the debut of world stage star Paul Foster is again delayed.

The Garden County selectors resolve the situation with the introduction of Dougie Berwick, who makes his debut at second to Scott Kennedy, and the return from self-imposed exile of outdoor cap Alister Kennedy.

Kennedy comes in at third to Derek Oliver, who takes over at skip from Wood, while Brian Wyllie covers for Robertson with Mal Higgenbotham switching rinks and stepped up from lead to third.

West Lothian make the long trek north to Aberdeen and make one change with Ewan Wilson unavailable and replaced at lead to Graeme Archer by Bryan Cooper.

Balbardie are unchanged for their visit to Falkirk in the B Section of Division 1.

Midlothian Ladies opened their Section D League Cup campaign with a 90-62 home win over Bainfield having benefited from 14-shot wins on the rinks skipped by Agnes Melrose and Janette Conlan, respectively.

The comfort zone of Dalkeith is deserted tomorrow but only for the short journey to Tranent where they take on an East Lothian team that opened its campaign under the management of Sheena Currie with a 91-53 away win over Teviotdale.

Bainfield go head to head with city rivals Portobello, who opened with a 102-70 win over Tweedbank.