Cricket: Sneddon the first of the top seeds to make exit

The West Lothian Masters, with a field of 221 bowlers chasing the £1,000 title, lost two of the 16 seeds at the first hurdle last night.

George Sneddon, the No.?8 seed, who has known the highs of being Scottish singles champion, Hong Kong Classic winner and pairs gold from both the Commonwealth Games and World Championships, failed to cope with Drew Paterson of Newbridge at Armadale.

Paterson, a former national triples title holder, beat the 60-year-old Scotland manager in 21 ends.

The Newbridge bowler made a strong start to lead 11-2 then still had Sneddon very much on the back-foot at 19-11 and went on to triumph 21-14.

Bryan Cooper went the distance to reach the Masters final in 2008 but the 28-year- old No.?12 seed from Bathgate fell to Colin McConaghy of Glenmavis at East Calder.

McConaghy is a regular winner on the weekend open pairs circuit and reproduced this form to beat Cooper 21-15 in 22 ends having picked up from 12-13 to bring the former County Singles, Junior Open and District Junior Singles champion under pressure at 19-14.

Mark Allison, 36, the No.?9 seed from Broxburn, came close to biting the dust but survived a 21-20 thriller after a marathon 29 ends against Gordon Logan of Kirkliston at West Calder.

Logan came off a 14-18 pace to cross 19-18 with a run of 1, 3, 1 then a nail-biting climax at 20-20 was followed by a no-shot end then the winning single awarded to Allison on an umpire's measure.

Gary Smith, the No.?7 seed from Linlithgow, showed his international class when overturning an 18-15 deficit with a 2, 1, 3 finish to beat Tom Grant of Broxburn at Ratho.

Among the seeds to progress last night were Andy Dunnett (Queensferry, 3), Graeme Archer (Uphall Station, 4), and Ewan Shearer (Bo'ness, 6).