EAST Lothian Indoor Bowling Club returned to league action tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon with both teams claiming opening-week wins, writes Matt Osborne.
The gents welcomed promoted side Lanarkshire to Meadowmill looking to start their campaign on the front foot.
Despite missing the vastly experienced duo of Alex Marshall and Derek Oliver, the new-look East Lothian squad took a commanding lead on the carpet 73-46 by the 10th end.
The home side pushed over the second half of play and registered a 103-68 win to top the league section on week one.
They head to Ardrossan this coming Saturday and are buoyed with the return of the double-silver-winning medallists – Marshall and Oliver – from the World Championships.
READ MORE: Bowls: Scotland's men's triples take silver at World Championships
Selectors have named the following squad for the testing away fixture: Calum Darling, Chris Brock, Daniel Gormley and Lewis Betts; Aaron Betts, Keiron Dodds, Dean Riva and Alex Marshall; Stuart Clark, Lennon Rafferty, Alan Young and Derek Oliver; and Logan Kennedy, Jamie Higgins, Stuart Thomson and Billy Mellors.
Not to be outdone by their club counterparts, the ladies headed into the Capital to face Bainfield in their season opener.
With some of the experienced squad members unavailable for the opener, the selectors handed debuts to Ali Carswell, Louise Morgan and Moira Buchanan.
The visitors made their intentions clear from the opening end, racing to a 15-4 lead over their stunned hosts.
Bainfield did respond in kind and by end 10 had reduced their deficit to seven shots.
The three ladies’ rinks maintained the pressure on the Edinburgh side and pushed to a 41-28 lead by end 15.
The match would see a similar pattern over the closing exchanges, East Lothian posing all the questions on their way to registering a 59-39 win.
They enjoy the luxury of a small break as they miss the next round of fixtures and do not return to action until October 21, when they welcome Tweedbank to East Lothian.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here