BORDERS NEWS

From Stewart Douglas

Week Ending 22nd April 2005 

Tweedbank Leagues

Tweedbank IBC


The final of the championship at Tweedbank saw two past champions go head to
head to regain the crown. Good friends and team mates Neil Mcnally and
Alistair White met in the final for a game that lived up to all it's
expectations!If you had asked me to predict a winner I would have had to toss a coin,
because it was going to be to close to call. Both players have been on top
form all season and unfortunatly the bubble was going to burst for one of
them!I didn't manage to see the game, but have herd about it from everyone I have
spoken to. Apparently it was a demonstration of pure skill with Neil comming
out 21-12 winner. The game was played in a tremendous spirit and on the day
the better player won.
I'm sure both players will be looking forward to the outdoor season as they
are every bit as good on grass!





Peebles Bowling Club.


The Peebles green opened last Sunday, and there was a very good turnout.
There has been alot of work done on the green during the closed season and
we have been told that the green will be alot better than last year! The
lawnmore has now been repaired and hopefully it will actually CUT the grass
this year.The club had a good year last season with the senior fours and the ladies
tripples both getting through to the Scottish finals at Ayr, and they are
intent on going for it again this year.




Borders

The Hamilton trophy team take on the under 25 team at St Boswells on April
30th. The teams have been picked, but not yet announced. As soon as I have
the full teams I will post them on here.
 

Scottish League : It looks like sparks will fly on Saturday as three teams will be going all out to win the section and have a shot at the big guns next season. Nithsdale are in the most commanding position, if they win their last game they win the league, it's as simple as that! or is it?  They need to travel for over two and a half hours over wintry roads just to reach Fintry, then play against a side who very rarely loose at home. Fintry is a very tricky carpet and Nithsdale may be in for a wee shock. Still, sitting a point clear at the top of the table, they must be favourites. It's in their own hands and they don't need to rely on other results.  If you were to pick a second favourite, it would need to be Coatbridge. They have home advantage over us and while they need Fintry to do them a favour, they will be quietly confident.  The outsiders to win the section must be us then. To beat Coatbridge at home will be tough to say the least, but if we can't get gee'd up for this game, then I don't know what it will take.  In our favour, there was a better, more confident atmosphere against Alloa last week, but I think Coatbridge will be a different kettle of fish. However, we have nothing to loose. A few weeks ago we thought we were well out of it, but as luck has had it, there's a glimmer of hope left for us.  One thing's for sure - it will be an interesting Saturday! who could have asked for a better end to a incredibly competitive division........ There is only one change from the team that beat Alloa a week ago, Alistair White is unavailable, but Norrie Amos will make a valued return to the team to take his place.

S. Douglas, D. Mclean, A. Howlanson, N. Mcnally
G. Godsall, l.Wilson, M. Thin, N. Amos
l. Thin, C. Chalmers, R.Thompson, B. Anderson
A. Borthwick, D. Peirce, D. Millar, R. Crawford

	P	W	D	L				P'ts
NITHSDALE	9	6	0	3				12
COATBRIDGE	9	5	1	3				11
TWEEDBANK	9	5	0	4				10
FALKIRK	9	4	1	4				9
FINTRY	9	4	0	5				8
ALLOA	9	2	0	7				4

Tweedbank Open Triples : Twenty-four triples found themselves at Tweedbank on Sunday for the second triples tournament of the season. We got of to a rocky start and were beaten by Brian Anderson's triple on our first game. We managed to win our second game, but due to some slow play on rink 5, we were 45minutes late before we played our last game. At the time it felt like we had been sitting out for hours, but it was actually a blessing in disguise! Brian Anderson, the section leader lost his last game, so we knew that we had to win by at least 4 shots to make it to the quarter finals. Fortunately we managed to win by the margin required and made it to the next stage.  We met Roy White and fortunately lady luck was in our corner as I got my fair share of wicks to change the game. However, you need to take your luck when you get it, it doesn't usually last to long!  The semi finals saw a triple from Nithsdale playing against ourselves on rink 3, with Norrie Amos playing Alistair White on rink 2. Both games were tight and Norrie's triple managed to make it to the final and we scraped through too.  The final was a very good game to be honest, the best triple won on the day. Brian Taylor was playing second for Norrie and he played well, but Norrie was on fire. He saved a good few shots and managed to change some tricky heads into his favour.  We found ourselves 4 down playing the last end, but only managed to pick up two shots. I had a chance to make the four that I needed for a draw, but I needed to move the jack about four inches. Any more and I would only get three shots. I was worried about being to heavy, and dropped a foot or so short.  To be fair, I don't think Norrie looses many games when he's 4 up playing the last.

 

Lea

LEAGUE CUP

League 1	--	P	--	W	--	D	--	L	--	Shots	--	Pts	-----	League 2	--	P	--	W	--	D	--	L	--	Shots	--	Pts
R. Crawford		6		6		0		0		74		12		N. McNally		6		5		0		1		41		10
D. Miller		6		4		0		2		30		8		L. Wilson		6		5		0		1		18		10
C. Tait		5		4		0		1		6		8		R. Logan		6		5		0		1		16		10
M. Bowie		6		2		1		3		-24		5		D. McLeod		6		2		0		4		2		4
D. Orr		5		2		0		3		- 3		4		W. Bell		6		2		0		4		0		4
I. Thorburn		6		1		1		4		-22		3		A. Howlieson		6		2		0		4		-22		4
D. Smith		6		0		0		6		-61		0		K. Ackerman		6		2		0		4		-22		4
														D. Weir		6		1		0		5		-33		2
													O

League 3	--	P	--	W	--	D	--	L	--	Shots	--	Pts
N. Amos		6		5		0		1		37		10
C. Skeldon		6		4		0		2		53		8
I. Niven		6		4		0		2		44		8
G. Martin		5		4		0		1		20		8
R. Moyes		6		3		0		3		-17		6
E. Burt		5		1		0		4		-33		2
A. Gordon		6		1		0		5		-46		2
P. Butterfield		6		1		0		5		-58		2

LADIES LEAGUE CUP

League 1	--	P	--	W	--	D	--	L	--	Shots	--	Pts	-----	League 2	--	P	--	W	--	D	--	L	--	Shots	--	Pts
B. Brown		6		4		1		1		49		9		E. Brydon		6		5		0		1		19		10
M. Bell		6		4		1		1		- 1		9		J. Lindores		6		4		0		2		26		8
G. Tweedie		5		3		0		2		24		6		P. Houston		6		3		0		3		35		6
M. Wilson		6		2		0		4		9		4		G. French		6		3		0		3		7		6
E. Parker		5		2		0		3		-15		4		E. Dickson		6		3		0		3		-22		6
R. Moyes		6		2		0		4		-23		4		A. Kerr		6		0		0		6		-65		0
M. Henry		6		2		0		4		-43		4

MIXED LEAGUE CUP

League 1	--	P	--	W	--	D	--	L	--	Shots	--	Pts	-----	League 2	--	P	--	W	--	D	--	L	--	Shots	--	Pts
R. White		5		5		0		0		62		10		D. Miller		6		5		0		1		43		10
I. Niven		6		5		0		1		47		10		R. Jefferson		6		5		0		1		25		10
D. Orr		6		3		0		3		- 3		6		A. Lindores		6		4		1		1		39		9
K. Thornton		6		3		0		3		-14		6		L. Wilson		6		3		1		2		40		7
R. Logan		6		2		1		3		13		5		D. Henderson		6		2		0		4		-25		4
I. Thorburn		5		1		1		3		- 9		3		D. Weir		6		2		0		4		-32		4
E. Parker		4		1		0		3		- 3		2		A. Scott		6		1		0		5		-29		2
J. Dickson		6		1		0		5		-93		2		R. Moyes		6		1		0		5		-61		2
													O

													-----	League 3	--	P	--	W	--	D	--	L	--	Shots	--	Pts
														W. Brydon		7		6		0		1		52		12
														M. Blyth		7		5		0		2		61		10
														D. McLean		7		4		0		3		33		8
														J. Fisher		7		4		0		3		-11		8
														H. Templeton		6		3		0		3		-10		6
														J. Ormiston		7		1		0		6		-62		2
														P. Houston		7		1		0		6		-63		2

AFTERNOON LEAGUE

League 1	--	P	--	W	--	D	--	L	--	Shots	--	Pts	-----	League 2	--	P	--	W	--	D	--	L	--	Shots	--	Pts
J. Fisher		7		6		0		1		47		12		T. Mann		8		7		0		1		54		14
D. Currie		7		4		0		3		36		8		J. Aitchison		8		7		0		1		48		14
R. Fulton		7		4		0		3		16		8		S. Somerville		8		5		0		3		28		10
R. Laidlaw		7		4		0		3		13		8		H. Clifton		8		5		0		3		9		10
J. Jefferson		7		4		0		3		9		8		H. Templeton		8		4		0		4		-10		8
I. Ainslie		7		3		1		3		7		7		G. Busby		8		3		1		4		7		7
D. Henderson		7		3		0		4		5		6		J. Hinchcliffe		8		3		0		5		15		6
T. Richardson		7		3		0		4		-48		6		E. Burt		8		3		0		5		-23		6
T. Lindsay		7		2		1		4		-28		5		M. Bowie		8		1		1		6		-21		3
I. Rutherford		7		1		0		6		-57		2		E. Parker		8		1		0		7		-107		2

 

OUTDOOR

Peebles Bowling Club :  The EGM to discuss entry into the border league held at the club house was poorly attended, with only fifteen men and six women making the effort to turn up. President Liz Osborne chaired the meeting, and club secretary Alan Wilkie did a small presentation on the pros and cons of joining. The main problem seemed to be the numbers required. It was agreed that as twenty men make up a team, we need to have a pool of at least thirty players to cover holiday periods and times when players have other commitments. Alan is sending out letters to all male members asking if they are prepared to play or not. They are to be completed and returned before the AGM in November so that the next step can be taken. If there is enough interest, it will go to a vote at the AGM. It would mean dropping the Clyde-Line competition and would be down a majority vote at the AGM. Until now I was 100% for joining the border league, but after listening to some interesting and valid points, my opinion is now changing. When you consider that at the start of the season you play two games a week on a Monday and a Thursday, the Peeblesshire county league on a Tuesday and the Scottish on a Friday, it's a lot to take on. This leaves only Thursdays for ties and what about the weekend competitions? I think that it is too much to ask. Plus if you have a non-playing partner, it's not fair on them. I am fortunate that my wife doesn't have a problem with me playing a lot, but that would be too much.  It will be interesting to see what happens, but I don't think it will happen. Only time will tell.

Champion of Champions : At the close the outdoor season  the final eight contenders for the Borders most prestigious single hand championship met at Jedburgh B. C.  There were a few "big" names still in at the quarter final stage and it was impossible to predict a winner. The conditions were terrible with gusting winds going to be a big factor in all games.  The first quarter final was between Hamilton Trophy team mates Alistair White of Kelso and Alex Moffat of Earlston. This really was a candidate for "game of the tournament". The game was a ding dong affair, and found the scores tied at 11-11,15-15 and 19-19. It could have went either way at this stage and a cool head from White saw him win 21-19.  White's semi-final opponent would be either Newtown's Dod Smith or Ian Crawford of Melrose. Crawford played well and it just wasn't to be for Dod and Crawford came out a 21-12 winner.  In the bottom half of the draw, past Scottish single champion Colin Rae of Wilton was a firm favourite against Ancrum's Bruce Cowan. However, never count out the under dog! Cowan played very well and managed to upset the odds by coming out a 21-16 winner. It just shows that in bowling, anything can happen. Anyone can beat anyone on their day.  The fourth and final quarter final was a bit of a one sided affair with Eyemouth's Tommy Calder producing a rather comfortable win over Stuart Angus of Duns.

The first semi-final between White and Crawford started off to be a very close encounter. The score was tied at 3-3 when White picked up a count of four to lead 7-3. The game stayed tight and found the scores tied once again at 13-13 then 16-16 when White picked up another full house to lead 20-16. Crawford managed to get the score back to 20-19 and lying one single shot when White elected to play a timing shot to remove the shot bowl but he was off target and removed his own bowl and gave Crawford the game. White was unfortunate, but it showed great determination to come back from behind to win the game.  Tommy Calder managed to get another fairly comfortable win by defeating Bruce Cowan 21-7. It just wasn't meant to be for Cowan.  The final saw Calder get off to a great start to lead 8-2, but once again Crawford knuckled down and picked up five shots in four ends to be just one shot adrift at 8-7. Crawford was now looking dangerous and he was looking very confident when a remarkable end from Calder saw him pick up a full house and he never looked back. He ended up a 21-12 winner who never looked like loosing all weekend.  This is the second time he has won this and I'm sure he will be back for another crack at it in the future.