Bathgate bowlers in Achilles injury KO
Armadale is the attractive venue for Saturday’s final of the WLBA Top Five Singles with the stars from Linlithgow and Kirkliston going head-to-head for one of the major county titles.
There was drama in the semi-finals action with Bathgate (High) holding the ace hand against record-holding Kirkliston at Broxburn — but were forced by heart-wrenching circumstances to concede defeat.
With the match balanced on a cliff-edge at 2-2, the last match on the green saw Bryan Cooper lead Grant Logan 19-16 having just carded a magic three – however in running up to the head an audible crack in the Achilles’ heel region resulted in a crippling effect on the Bathgate star.
Logan and KBC gave the distraught Bathgate camp some 40 minutes for Super Cooper to recover, or field a substitute, but being unable to do so Bathgate very sportingly conceded a match clinching third victory to KBC.
Neil Speirs (21-8 over David McCormick) and Raymond Logan (21-18 over Rab Hilson) had kept Kirkliston in the picture while Bathgate had cheered wins for Cameron Greer (21-10 over Mark Allison) and Alan McCormick (21-13 over Stevie Forrest).
Meanwhile the other semi-final action played at Bankton Mains saw a 3-0 win for Linlithgow over Broxburn with the scores as follows: Gary Smith 21 Alan Roxburgh 5; Andy Dunnett 21 Jamie Edwards 9; Gary Orr 21 Scott McMaster 16; Ewan Shearer 11 Stuart McMaster 12; Steven Fleming 12 James Bird 16.
The Weslo Senior Singles is also in action today (Thursday) with round three fixtures set to be played with the quarter-final match-ups scheduled for Tuesday, August 28.
Tuesday’s second round saw plenty of fascinating ties but none more so than Alister Watson (Linlithgow) and Bob Mackay (Armadale) going right down to the wire with the Linlithgow lad sealing a narrow 21-20 victory.
Other results on the day were: Colin Stein (Linlithgow) 21-8 Davy McQueen (Bellsburn), Robert Sharp (Watson Memorial) 21-13 Rab Waddell (Glenmavis), David Wilson 21-11 Frank Baker (Mid Calder), Mike Forde (Kinneil) 21-12 Jackie Ramsay (Harthill), Robert Jones (Watson Memorial) 21-10 Willie Watson (Bellsburn), Bill Grier (Pumpehrston) 21-17 Robert Clover (Kinneil), Jim Horsburgh (Watson Memorial) 21-11 Bill Close (Kirkliston), Jim Saunders (Bathgate) 21-7 Campbell McLaren (Bellsburn), Stan Gardiner (Mid Calder) 21-11 Norrie Engelen (Watson Memorial), Gordon Kain (Buchan Park) 21-4 Brian Howlett (Linlihgow), Gordon Logan (Kirkliston) 21-2 Bill Bryans (Bankton Mains), Stuart Smith 21-13 Allan Hutchison (Linlithgow), Raymond Reid (Queensferry) 21-5 Norrie Alexander (Ratho).
There were also walkover wins for Gordon Scott (Armadale) over Fred Dailly (Oakbank) and Raymond Meikle (Philpstoun) against Ron Erskine (Winchburgh).
Today’s (Thursday) third round draw reads: Alister Watson v Raymond Meikle, Colin Stein v Robert Sharp, David Wilson v Mike Forde, Robert Jones v Bill Grier, Jim Horsburgh v Gordon Scott, Jim Saunders v Stan Gardiner, Gordon Kain v Gordon Logan, Stuart Smith v Raymond Reid.
Check out next week’s Courier for all the scores and reports from round three and the quarter-finals of the competition.