Bowls: McCaskill first out the blocks with gritty win over Gerrard

The Edinburgh Bowling League Knockout Championships sponsored by Mackays Joinery Manufacturing swung into prelim round action, with Daniel McCaskill of London Road Foundry grabbing the early headlines in the Singles.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Jul 2012, 13:05 BST

McCaskill had a battle on his hands against Peter Gerrard of Postal at Lutton Place but he came good from 13-11 down to win a thrilling 27-end encounter, 21-18.

Gerrard had set the pace until McCaskill found a spectacular 3, 4 acceleration that thrust him firmly into the driving seat at 18, although at 20-14 he did come under late pressure as his opponent carded 1, 3 to 18.

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Craig McCall of Criagentinny carries the club banner in his presidential year and the Edinburgh & Leith star bulleted his way to a 21-4 win over Fred Neilson of Jessfield at Portobello, having shown he meant business with a count of 4 on the opening end.

Sean Bristow carried the Portobello banner into the first round proper at the 21-8 expense of Steve Hunter of Whitehouse & Grange at Jessfield having led 10-8 then powering to 21 with a blitz run of 3, 4, 4.

Summerside is represented by former Pilrig icon David Poole, who received a walkover against Trinity while Braid was another no show against Brunstane.

• The knockout stage of the Cities & Counties Championship for the coveted Andrew Hamilton Trophy starts with the quarter-finals tomorrow and the major local interest lies in the progress of Edinburgh & Leith, and West Lothian.

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E&L haven’t been this far for since 2004 but have shown vastly improved performance levels this season and team manager Willie Watson expects that a hungry appetite for success will fuel the efforts against Lanarkshire West at Larbert.

Watson’s team plans are hit by the loss of captain Billy Mellors and father of the side Alan Brown who are both unavailable. However, that paves the way for the smooth return of ace skip Robert Marshall and star third Paul Veitch.

It does involve a bit of switching of roles, with Andy Sneddon and Colin Hutchison forming a new back end for Kevin Hunter, and Craig Paterson with vice captain Gavin Smith moved to second for Willie McDonald.

West Lothian face Ayrshire North at Vale of Leven without David McCormick who is unavailable, so Cameron Greer comes off the reserve bench to play lead to Tommy Mann who is given Blair Mackie at third while George Sneddon moves to second.

Sandy McDougall has been switched from playing second to Mann to play the same role in the rink skipped by John Aitken.

Related topics:Bowls