Bowls: Carrick Knowe beat holders to make Top Ten bowls final

The holders made a great start with Andrew Caldwell picking up strongly from an 11-6 deficit to beat Richard Tough 21-12, then Craig McCall, Gordon Bold and Willie McDonald added an 18-17 win over Graham Pringle, Stephen Pringle and James Gogg in the Triples.

But Carrick Knowe ruled the roost in the Pairs with Colin Mitchell skipping Kevin Tennant from 7-7 to a 19-8 win over Daniel Gormley and Kevin McFarlane. Johnny Priestley, in the Fours, skipped John Mitchell, Andy Blair and Craig Aitken to a 19-10 win over Darren Smith, John Shields, David Brown and Andy Jeffrey.

Kirkliston, meanwhile, who hold the national Top Ten bowls title, stepped up their bid to retain their grip on the West Lothian crown with a 6-2 victory over Newbridge in last night’s semi-final clash at Linlithgow. Wins in the Singles, Triples, and Fours delivered a match result that was never in much doubt despite Newbridge creating a window of opportunity with a good win in the Pairs.

Raymond Logan was the Kirkliston spearhead in the Singles and the 57-year-old former national champion delivered an inspiring result with his 21-16 win over Scotland Elite Squad member, Thomas Mann.

Bathgate BC progressed from the other semi-final with a 5-3 win over Queensferry at Bellsburn but it was back to earth for their West Lothian Master, Cameron Greer, who suffered a 21-11 defeat at the hands of Mark Graham.

The result that mattered most for Bathgate came in the Pairs with Bryan Cooper and Alan McCormick leading 13-6 then adding a mighty 5 to 18 en route to a 21-6 win over Alan Harper and Neil McLean.

The match result was wrapped up in the Triples with Steven Murphy, David McCormick and Billy Arnott battling on from 7-6 to score a 10-7 win over Ian Humble, Raymond Reid and Iain McLean.