EAST Lothian’s bowls stars of tomorrow came within a whisker of setting up an all-East Lothian clash at a fours tournament in Midlothian, writes Matt Osborne.

The county’s young starlets took centre stage and almost claimed both places in the final.

The first squad won their four group games to book their place in the final, while the second squad just missed out on the second final spot, finishing second in their group.

Instead, host club Midlothian contested the final against Caleb Watson, Jack Oliver, Ryan Harris and Lewis Thom.

In a tight encounter and amid some great bowls, it would come down to skip Thom to deliver the winning bowl, turning the jack with his final bowl to claim the tournament win.

Elsewhere, there were unexpected early exits for both national fours sides at the weekend.

The gents’ holders of Jamie Higgins, Scott Kennedy, Derek Oliver and Billy Mellors made the journey to Falkirk, where they found world number one Stewart Anderson in fine form.

Ultimately, the holders fell at the first round at the hands of Glasgow, 22-5.

The ladies were looking to make use of home advantage and an early-round forfeit propelled them into the Sunday-morning draw against Midlothian.

Unfortunately, the four of Mel Penman, Lucy Hogg, Kim Hoggan and Emma Blyth were unable to really impose themselves on the game as they conceded 28-12.

This weekend, attention turns back to the national singles titles as SIBA looks to crown the gents’, ladies’ and senior singles champions for 2024-25. East Lothian’s Janet Fairnie will take to Paisley at 10am on Saturday in her senior singles semi-final against Chris Holland (Glasgow).

The winner will return to Paisley at 10am the following day to tackle the winner of Margaret Letham (Blantyre) and Kim Watt (Stonehaven).