Prestwick indoor bowlers make it five home wins

Jan 21 2011 by Mike WIlson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

PRESTWICK gents won their fifth home match of the season when they beat East Fife 90-75 to guarantee their position in third place in the section with one match to go.

Robert McCulloch’s rink produced the strong result as they won 38-12. Drew Boyd picked up a six at the last end against Wayne Hogg to tie his match 19-19 and there were narrow defeats for Paul Boyd and Andy Kilday.

Prestwick are guaranteed Premier Division bowls next season which is more than can be said for Saturday’s opponents Blantyre.

The Lanarkshire side must beat Prestwick to try and maintain their Premier League status for season 2011/2012.

Team: Rink 1: Lee McCulloch, Jordan Slaven, Alan Williams snr, Drew Boyd; Rink 2: Craig Lindsay, Mark Kerr, Stuart Reid, Paul Boyd; Rink 3: Allan Hendry, Craig Cathie, Junior Cole, Gary Martin; Rink 4: Craig Cobbledick, Alec Cathie, Brian Fulton, Robert McCulloch.

Prestwick seniors completed their fixtures for the season with a 70-51 home victory against Newton Stewart with wins on three rinks.

Morris Sturgeon beat Jimmy Sproat 21-13, Jim Fortune beat Bill McMillan 22-10, Alan Paxton 20 beat Jim McGarrie 20-9 while Michael Higgins lost 19-7 to Stewart Gilmour.

The win sees Prestwick still with an outside chance of winning the section. Prestwick have now completed all their matches with 16 points while Glasgow have 14 and a slightly poorer shot difference.

Saturday sees the rearranged match between Glasgow and Ayr at Glasgow. If Glasgow win by at least 14 shots then they will take the place in the quarter-finals of the Seniors League with any other result seeing Prestwick through to play Coatbridge.

Attention for the seniors now switches to the Scottish Cup and the Ayrshire Fours League with their first match on Wednesday, February 2.

The ladies play their second last league match on Saturday when they host Galleon ar 2pm. The Kilmarnock side have won the nine matches they have already played and will look to complete a perfect record. However, Prestwick look to maintain their perfect home record this season.

The under 35 team lost in their two leg knockout match to Lanarkshire on Sunday. The damage had been done in the first leg when Prestwick lost 10-0 away at Lanarkshire.

In the second leg, Prestwick won on two rinks and by 18 shots for a 6-4 result. This meant that Lanarkshire went throughby 14-6.

Scores: Craig Cobbledick 14 Garry Neilson 25; Allan Hendry 26 Craig Martin 14; Paul Boyd 12 Steven Hume 18; Gary Martin 40 Gordon Prentice 18; Overall score: Prestwick 93, Lanarkshire 75.

Sunday sees the rearranged Scottish international trial matches. Paul Boyd is the only Prestwick player involved in either trial. Anne Brown will be carrying the flag for South Ayrshire in the ladies trial.

Other Ayrshire players in the trials are Stewart Anderson, Scott McKenzie, Jean Sykes, Claire Johnston and Josephine Williamson (Auchinleck) and Michelle Cooper and Mary Anne Cooper (Ardrossan).

The Ayrshire Top 9 takes place all day on Sunday at Ardrossan. The competition brings together all six Ayrshire clubs in a one day format of pairs, triples and fours matches. Selector Alec Thomson has named the following team to represent Prestwick.

Pairs: Alan Williams jnr and Alan Williams snr; Triples: Steven McLean, John Docherty and Tom McLarty; Fours: David Brown, Dougie McKie, Alan Paxton and Michael Higgins.

Paul Foster claimed another world title on Monday when he and partner Alex Marshall won the world pairs championship at Potters. They beat Andrew Barker and Mike Stepney from Elgin in the first ever all Scottish final in the 27 year history of the event.

Paul bids for a singles and pairs double as he continues his challenge on Wednesday against Jonathon Ross. Other Ayrshire interest ended in the first round stage of the singles when John Candlish and David Gourlay were both defeated.

Half yearly memberships are available at Prestwick Indoor for anyone who wishes to join the club from January. The fee of £31 will entitle the member to full use of the club and to play in all the competitions. Anyone interested should contact Gordon at the club.