Bowls: Big guns help Midlothian to victory over Fife County

Midlothian welcomed back international stars David Peacock and Graeme Archer for the Cities & Counties match against Fife County at Newbattle, and the home side bounced back from their defeat by Edinburgh & Leith to win 126-92.

Midlothian won four of their six rinks and were never behind at any stage of the match. The win was their second in three matches. “It keeps us well in the qualifying mix,” said Midlothian boss Frank Gray.

Archer emerged the spearhead figure and included a spectacular run of 2, 1, 1, 3, 2, 1, 5, 4 (19 shots) as he skipped Calum Crawford, Scott Runciman and John Stevenson to a 32-8 win over Raymond White. Colin McFarlane blitzed Colin Falconer 20-4 over the first 14 ends, then skipped Brian Tuill, Ryan Yuill and Scott Briggs to a 23-11 win, while Jamie Mitchell, Stuart Clark, Ronnie Duncan and Colin Walker added a 22-15 win over Chris Stein.

Craig Hodge picked up from 12-15 to skip Ian Forbes, John Tod and Scott Reid to an 18-16 win over James Forbes. Jim Gibson lost 22-16 to S Bone, while David Peacock lost 20-15 to Wayne Hogg. Defending national champions, East Lothian, crashed to their third defeat in a row, losing 125-117 to Borders at Tranent.