Water night for West End to make hay

The home matches at West End and Merchiston in Division 3 survived the weather but the rest of last night’s fixtures in the Alpha Trophies sponsored Edinburgh Bowling League were wiped out by torrential rain that flooded bowling greens in the Capital.

The clash between West End and Whitehouse & Grange was an interesting battle between teams that occupied second and third positions respectively in a competitive Division 3 league and a thrilling encounter ended in a narrow win for the home side.

West End edged the result 5-4 with the scales tipped by the bonus point earned by the superior 67-63 aggregate score after both teams posted wins on two of their four rinks.

But the major bonus for West End came with the shock news that table toppers Summerside had suffered a 7-2 away defeat at the hands of a Merchiston side that was sitting – and still does – on the second bottom rung of the league.

It is only by a nose but West End now sit top with 57 points followed by Summerside on 56 then Whitehouse & Grange on 52.

Wins for the home rinks skipped by Donnie Gilbertson and Graham Hockaday kept the West End support cheerful while Malcolm Weir and Hugh Thomson were the successful skips for Whitehouse & Grange.

Gilbertson still had it to do at 15-13 up after 13 ends but changed his landscape with a mighty 5 at the next and he went on to skip Neil McRae, Charlie Baillie and Mark Church to a 22-14 win over Ken Brown.

Hockaday was in need of inspiration at 13-7 down to Mark Hewitt after 12 ends and he provided it himself with a smart trail for three shots at the next then kept his opposition trapped in the bowlers graveyard to skip Craig Hunter, David McCrae and Keith Gellaitry to a 19-13 triumph.

Meanwhile Weir brought cheer to the visitors in the shape of a mighty count of 5 to lead 17-10 and he went on to skip James McLennan, Cameron Bourhill and Fraser Milligan to a 19-12 win over Grant Pagan.

Thomson broke free with an acceleration of 3, 1, 1, 2 to lead 14-10 then traded on the cushion to skip Craig Miller, Dugald McCallum and Steve Kirk to a 17-14 win over Duncan McLaren.

“This result keeps us well in the hunt to win promotion and it was against one of our chief rivals so it is a pleasing outcome for us,” said Hockaday for West End.

Meanwhile the demise of Summerside as the result of a great night’s play by Merchiston leaves the disposed leaders thankful that former Pilrig star David Poole helped them avoid a whitewash.