Bowls: Carrick Knowe raring to go for tricky trip to Aberdeen

"It is an expedition into the unknown for us and we expect to be in for a testing time however our team is raring to go so the mood is good and our expectations are high," said spokesman Johnny Priestley.

It is Carrick Knowe's debut in the national championship and they'll be spearheaded by Richard Tough in the Singles while Commonwealth Games player Colin Mitchell skips Craig Aitken in the Pairs.

Reigning national Pairs champions James Hogg and Darren Hush split forces with Hogg skipping Ian McKenna and Johnny Priestley in the Triples and Hush at the helm for Kevin Tennant, John Mitchell, and Alan Poole in the Fours.

Northern have been local Top Ten champions on four occasions and five of their team were regular County players last season.

Bonnyrigg carry the Midlothian banner and are also in prelim round action up North tomorrow as they travel to Stonehaven for a tilt at the Aberdeen & Kincardine champions.

Bonnyrigg have won their local title on six occasions and reached the national final in 1988 and 2007 while Stonehaven have three domestic titles to their credit.

EDINBURGH & LEITH bid to complete a hat-trick of wins in the Scottish Under 25 League Cup when they travel to Newport tomorrow to take on Fife.

East Lothian and West Lothian both hope to bounce back to winning form they tackle Midlothian at Gilmerton Private and Renfrewshire at Meikleriggs in Paisley, respectively.

DEFENDING champions Carrick Knowe have jumped to the top of the Water of Leith First Sixteens league table thanks to a 5-0 away win over Juniper Green and a 4-1 defeat of former leaders Sighthill at Slateford.

The Ramsay brothers were prominent at Slateford with Gordon skipping Craig Widdowson, Jimmy Gordon, and Ronnie Ramsay to a 12-shot win over Jamie Gracie, and Andrew adding a two-shot success over Paul Noble.

The other two rinks finished peels with Robert Marshall sharing with Jason Ronaldson and Scott Brunton with Alan Scott.