Scots dominate pairs event at World Championships

Three of the four pairs who line up in today’s Just Retirement WBT World Indoor Pairs championship at Potters Resort in Norfolk are representing Scotland – and the one exception has none other than Fifeborn Andy Thomson at skip.

That means that Thomson’s lead, Mark Royal, will be the lone Englishman on the portable rink.

Royal and Thomson cruised to a 6-5, 8-4 win over Welsh stars John Price and Jason Greenslade in yesterday’s quarter-finals, and will face Scotland’s Stewart Anderson and Darren Burnett for a place in the final.

To the dismay of local supporters, Anderson, from Auchinleck, and Arbroath ace Burnett, who recently combined well with Neil Speirs to win the Atlantic men’s triples title in Cyprus, yesterday pulled off a 12- 7 10- 6 2- 1 victory over Cambridgeshire duo Nick Brett and Greg Harlow.

“The green is far from perfect this year,” said Burnett.

“People are complaining that it is sluggish and that bowls are not bending back with the bias the way they should – but I’m comfortable with it and finding it reasonably well.”

Anderson added: “I agree that the carpet is slow. Today I hardly got a bowl beyond the jack. But I promise I will play better for Darren tomorrow.”

When the defending champions fall at the first hurdle, it always causes a bit of a stir and there were hushed whispers around the arena on Saturday, when England’s Simon Skelton and Robert Paxton suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Midlothian’s Ronnie Duncan and Colin Walker.

Anyone who follows bowls, however, will know that, although they may not yet be household names on the World Bowls Tour circuit, Duncan and Walker are highly respected international players, who, only last March, won the British men’s indoor pairs title at the Stanley club in County Durham.

With Duncan at lead hitting form early on, the Scots won the first set, but the champions steadied the ship and won the second set at a canter, forcing their opponents into a tie-break.

The Midlothian aces won the first two ends of the tie-break, and returned a 10-7 4-9 2-0 scorecard that saw them through to today’s semi-finals, where they will face Paul Foster and Alex Marshall, who, remarkably, are aiming to play in their sixth successive final.