Bainfield captain Moss also left out squad

Another disappointment for the Edinburgh club surrounds the absence of their young Premier League team captain Craig Moss.

Marshall is still young and prominent enough at the age of 48 to add to the 48 indoor caps he has earned to date, but 
although he remains the major figure under both codes of the sport in Edinburgh bowls, he has been out of favour indoor since playing in the 2008 series.

Although playing a leading role in keeping newly-promoted Bainfield in the Premier League this season, his opportunity to impress the national selectors was curtailed by his recent travels to represent Scotland Outdoors in the Hong Kong Classic.

The dropping of a rising star like Moss at the age of 28 with six caps and two national titles to his credit will also be a puzzle to the Hutchison Crossway faithful, although his switching between lead and third to help solve team problems may not have helped.

There was good news for Bainfield, however, and it comes in the shape of Chris Downie retaining his place after making his debut last season. Joining him on the trip to Stanley IBC in March will be Gavin Smith, who achieves five series in a row.

That feat pales slightly, however, in comparison to two East Lothian legends in the shape of Willie Wood MBE and Graham Robertson who are still going strong enough to bring their cap total to 84 and 81 respectively.

Both started their international career under the banner of the now-defunct Edinburgh IBC, as did their EL colleague Scott Kennedy, who moves to the 36-cap mark.

The East Lothian contingent is five strong, with Alex Marshall MBE bringing his tally of caps to 69 and Derek Oliver to 15. Marshall made his debut for Scotland under the banner of Bainfield in 1989.

Midlothian have struggled in this season’s Premier League campaign, but Ronnie Duncan and Colin Walker have done enough to stay in favour with the national selectors and will move their cap mark to 18 and 27 respectively.

Calum Logan of West Lothian IBC has had a memorable 2012 and the 23-year-old recent 
winner of the Scottish 
Champion of Champions title is capped for the third series in a row and is joined at Stanley by four of his clubmates. Neil Speirs and Thomas Mann continue their sequence of series from their respective debuts in 2003 and 2008, while Cameron Greer is on the bench as a travelling reserve along with first timer Bryan Cooper.

SCOTLAND TEAM:

Rink 1: Ronnie Duncan, Graham Robertson (capt), Neil Speirs and Derek Oliver.

Rink 2: Martin McCalley (Falkirk), Gavin Smith, Jonathon Ross (Paisley) and Robert Grant (Lanarkshire).

Rink 3: Chris Downie, John Gilmartin (Paisley) Iain McLean (Blantyre) and Darren Burnett (Arbroath).

Rink 4: Brian Irvine (Blantyre0 Thomas Mann, Mike Stepney (Elgin) Alex Marshall MBE.

Rink 5: Wayne Hogg (East Fife), Calum Logan, Scott Kennedy, Paul Foster (Prestwick).

Rink 6: Paul Boyd (Prestwick), Willie Wood MBE, Stewart Anderson (Auchinleck) and Colin Walker.

Reserves: Bryan Cooper and Cameron Greer. Team Manager, Gordon Neil (Ayr).