Dawes closes the door on Burnett

Darren Burnett’s hopes of winning the Just World Indoor Singles title for the second time were dashed on Saturday, when the Arbroath community police officer suffered a 8-7, 10-5 semi-final defeat at the hands of 35-yearold Lancastrian accountant Mark Dawes.

Burnett bravely paid tribute to the way Dawes had played, but admitted he was restricted by a painful back condition that stopped him visiting the head as often as he would have liked, and affected his delivery.

“I had a few niggles on the way to the semi-final, but the semi-final was scheduled for an early morning session, so it was more noticeable, and I found it hard to get going,” said Burnett.

“It’s disappointing, but on the whole it’s been a good tournament for me.

“Before I came down to Potters, if you had said I was going to reach the semi-finals of the singles, I would have been quite happy,” he added.

“It’s just that, having got this far, it would have been nice to go all the way.”

It was by no means a one-sided contest. The 41-year-old Burnett was three shots adrift when he went into the last end of the first set, and scored two shots to lose it by the narrowest of margins. He trailed by two shots at the start of the last end of the second set, but this time Dawes picked up three shots.

Players from all over the world were devastated to hear the news that former Scottish international Linda Brennan, a larger-thanlife-character who was latterly the proprietor of the retail outlet David Gourlay Bowls, died on Friday at the age of 51.

Burnett led the tributes by saying: “There was only one Linda Brennan – she was a good bowler, but also the life-and-soul of the party, and always full of fun.

“She will be missed by all of us.”

Burnett’s conqueror, Dawes, won yesterday’s final, defeating Robert Paxton 8-7 6-7 2-0.

Darren Burnett was hampered by a back condition.