Bowls: Mitchell and Marshall get off to a flyer

BOWLS' big guns Colin Mitchell and Robert Marshall launched their respective bids for the national singles title with commanding wins in last night's preliminary round of the Edinburgh District 12 championships.

Carrick Knowe's Mitchell dealt Stuart Clark (Bainfield) a 21-10 exit in 18 ends at Balerno while Marshall was in red-hot form at Currie, with the Slateford champion enjoying a 21-6 victory over David Bruce of Liberton.

Meanwhile, the Edinburgh & Leith bandwagon keeps rolling in the Scottish Under-25 League Cup by completing a hat-trick of wins with a massive 52-shot victory over Fife County at Newport.

The 152-100 match score represents an another great team performance with wins for six rinks, skipped by Paul O'Donnell, George Kirk, John McDermott, Chris Steven, Jamie Gracie and team captain Colin Hutchison.

Edinburgh & Leith captured the first seven ends 50-33, the second 48-29 and the third 54-38.

O'Donnell was the star, with the Bainfield ace making telling space from 12-9 to 23-10 then including a 5 at the 20th end as he skipped Kerr McKail, Craig Ramsay and Scott Noble to a 32-18 win over former teammate Allan Ramsay.

"We now face a crucial match against Midlothian but enter it with the confidence of a 100 per cent record and a pile of shots in the bank," said Edinburgh & Leith spokesman Bernie Callaghan.