Brave Burnside fail to roll all the way
Good efforts at Bowls Scotland finals
Burnside bowlers enjoyed a mixed bag of results in front of hundreds of spectators at the Bowls Scotland finals.
Bowls fans and players turned out in their numbers and in all weathers last week to witness the biggest event on the calendar for this country’s bowling community.
Burnside BC had no less than seven members representing them at Northfield, Ayrshire, and could be proud of their efforts following impressive displays on the greens.
The fours, made up of Scott Stevenson, Geoff McNee, Alec Hay and skip Andrew Wilson, faced a strong St Andrews team in their last 32 clash.
After the first end Burnside knew they had a game on their hands when the Saints went into a 3-0 lead. Tit for tat ends followed and by the seventh Burnside were leading by eight shots to seven.
Their opponents rallied well and by the 13th end they managed to take the lead 14-11. Burnside then fought back and went into the last end one shot up before picking up two shots to win 17- 14.
The next game was on Friday morning against Stranraer but Burnside found themselves 8-0 down after two ends.
They won four shots in the third, however their recovery was short-lived and, with four ends to go, Burnside found themselves down by 23 shots to 11 and were eventually knocked out.
Skip Andrew Wilson, who was beaten in the last 32 match of the under-25 gents singles on Monday, commented: “We beat St Andrews but it was a very close match. I managed to play two big bowls in the last two ends to take us through to play against Stranraer, who were full of county players.”
He added: “It was absolutely fantastic just to be there. One of our players, Geoff, was in shock because we were changing next to Paul Foster who is a world champion bowler. You find a lot of great bowlers at Northfield.
“For me personally, I was disappointed not to win a medal but I hope I can take this on to do better in the future.
“The guy who beat me in the junior singles got to the final and lost out 23-19 after leading 1913 so I can take confidence from that.”
The triples team had a mix of experience and youth with Stevie Jackson, Cammy Taylor and skip Marc Stirratt. They had their first game on Thursday against the strongly fancied Lenzie.
A tight start ensued and by the fifth end Lenzie had gone into a 6-2 lead. In the next end Burnside picked up five shots and even brought the scoreline to 12-12 before Lenzie hit back and ran out eventual winners.
Although defeat was hard to take, the team know the experience will stand them in good stead for the Gents Nominated Triples competition which starts at Burnside this Friday.
We were changing next to Paul Foster who is a world champion bowler