Stewartry played host to Glasgow East at Castle Douglas on Saturday in the final match of the season, which also happened to be the wooden spoon decider.  Glasgow had not won any of their first six games, and Stewartry had been successful only against Wigtownshire so far.  Glasgow took the early initiative, but Stewartry battled back and showed their fighting spirit in a match that mattered only for pride, and went on to win by 128 - 109.

A Davies 13 - 25 G MacDougall

S Richardson 28 - 16 J Wardle

B McClune 28 - 11 W Charters

S Davies 14 - 28 W Campbell

S McCubbin 19 - 19 S Whitelaw

G Maxwell 26 - 10 B Bowers

Stewartry have certainly not had their best season in the Cities and Countes Championship however the nucleus of the team remains strong, and with the addition of a number of players the County side can compete with the bigger counties such as Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.  Team manager Hugh Robertson is looking for an early commitment from players for next year’s competition so that the County can put out the strongest team available.  2014 is the Stewartry’s 75th anniversary and a successful County team would be a fantastic boost to the anniversary celebrations!

Stewartry v Glasgow East 22/06/2013

CASTLE DOUGLAS BOWLING CLUB

RESERVES T. DOCHERTY, R. GIBSON

UNAVAILABLE: G.DAVIES 22/06

Will all players please bring county jackets and change of shirt for after the game or meal so that Graeme and Hugh can check all shirts and jackets for next season. Any one who is unavailable please let Hugh know asap.

Hamilton Trophy Saturday 15th June

Stewartry visited Kilbarchan to play Renfrewshire on Saturday and were on the end of a heavy defeat for the second week in a row.  The only winning rink was that of Alan Davies who beat M Deigan 23 - 18.  Scott Davies lost by four shots to J O’Sullivan 18 - 14.  Brian McClune went down 20 - 7 to S Irwin, and Scott McCubbin lost to G Pringle 25 - 10.  Steven Richardson  was beaten 27 - 9 by S Carson and Graeme Maxwell suffered a 36 - 10 reversal to J Adam.  The overall score was Renfrewshire 144 - Stewartry 73.

Saturday brings Stewartry’s final game of the season at Castle Douglas against Glasgow.

Stewartry v Renfrewshire 15/06/2013

KILBARCHAN BOWLING CLUB

RESERVES, J. CRUIKSHANK, R. GIBSON (travelling),

UNAVAILABLE: G.DAVIES 22/06 T. DOCHERTY 15/06, R. MONTEITH 15/06.

Will all players please let either Secretary Graeme Maxwell( 07507816230) or Manager Hugh Robertson (07425622104) know by Thursday 13^th June the travel arrangements they have made, and if there will be any supporters travelling with them.

Lanarkshire 158 v 89 Stewartry

Rinks scores

S.Richardson 15  v 23 J. Meikle, S. McCubbin 11 v 27 D. Gardiner,

S. Davies 20 v 25 I. Campbell, J. Crawford 6 v 33 J. Simpson,

B. McClune 20 v 21 S. Forrest, G. Maxwell 17 v 29 I. McLean.

Unfortunately Stewartry ran into a Lanarkshire team who were right on top of their game, and with players really having to play for their places, gave a real lesson in positive bowling.

Stewartry despite having some key players missing had no excuses and all players acknowledge we were well beaten by an excellent team on the day.

Brian McClune almost managed a solitary win but even that was not to be on a day when nothing went right and anything that could go wrong did. At least there was no shortage of effort, but that didn’t cover the difference in skill on the day.

I believe in the group of players who have given what they have to this campaign and lets be positive and look to get a good finish with 2 wins.

Lanarkshire v Stewartry 08/06/2013

QUARTER BOWLING CLUB

RESERVES, J. McGARRIE, J. CRUIKSHANK, R. GIBSON (travelling),

UNAVAILABLE: G.DAVIES 22/06 T. DOCHERTY 15/06,R. MONTEITH 15/06, S. CONCHAR 08/06, A. DAVIES 08/06.

Will all players please let either Secretary Graeme Maxwell( 07507816230) or Manager Hugh Robertson (07425622104) know by Thursday 6^th June the travel arrangements they have made, and if there will be any supporters travelling with them.

Hamilton Trophy – 01/06/2013

Stewartry 123 v 96 Wigtownshire

Rinks scores

S.Richardson 19  v25  A. Cairney, S. McCubbin 22 v 13 A. Higgins,

S. Davies 17 v 19 D. Kiltie(Jnr) , A. Davies 16 v 18 A. Hainey,

B. McClune 24 v 11 A. McClurg, G. Maxwell 25 v10  K. Cairney.

On a really warm and sunny afternoon, to start with at least, the annual  local match between the 2 South West counties took place at Dalbeattie. The visitors arrived on the back of a victory against current holders Lanarkshire and started warm favourites against a Stewartry team who had lost 3 previous games.

However this game reminds how bowls is a great sport in which everything is on the day. Stewartry started really well and they raced into a 30 shot lead after only 7 ends. Stewartry held that lead, which fluctuated between 20 and 30 up until 12 end mark, when rain came on for around 20 minutes. After the rain cleared and sun came back out Wigtownshire came back into the game a bit and indeed for a 5 minute spell it looked as though deficit had been cut to to single figures. However this was just big Hamish counting the Dalry way and in fact 10 shots were missing from Stewartry total.

This just gave Stewartry the final push they needed and in a very quiet game apart from someone on Rink 1(Natch YES SIR Maxwell) the game ended with a well deserved and comfortable Stewartry win. The 27 shot winning margin also wiped out their deficit from first 3 games and it shows how tight margins have cost us so dearly this season.

Anyway now to next week and champions Lanarkshire at Quarter, they responded well to their defeat with a good win against Dumfriesshire so we will need to raise our game again – Well Done Stewartry. 

Hughie 

On Saturday at Dalbeattie the Stewartry gained their first win of the year with a convincing victory over Wigtownshire.

On rink 1 Graeme Maxwell recorded Stewartry’s biggest win, defeating Kenny Cairnie 25 - 10.  Next door on rink 2 Alan Davies went down 16 - 18 to Alan Hainey.  On rink 3 Scott Davies also lost by 2 shots to David Kiltie Jnr 17 - 19.  Rink 4 saw Steven Richardson lose out 19 - 25 to Alan Cairnie. Scott McCubbin recorded Stewartry’s second win when he defeated Alex Higgins on rink 5 22 - 13.  On 6 Brian McClune rounded off the victory 24 - 11 against Andrew McClurg. 

The final tally was Stewartry 123 Wigtownshire 96.

This week Stewartry travel to Quarter Bowling Club in Hamilton to take on Lanarkshire South who currently lead the South Section.

Hamilton Trophy – 22/05/2013

Ayrshire 127 v 113 Stewartry

Rinks scores

S.Richardson 16  v 23 C. Smith, S. McCubbin 29 v 22 J. Hopkins,

S. Davies 16 v 16 G. Johnstone, A. Davies 20 v 24 W. McKenzie,

B. McClune 14 v 20 G. Campbell, G. Maxwell 18 v 22 C. Lindsay.

On the first really nice day for a Hamilton Trophy game up at Darvel, the sun shone and the green was a lovely pace, with to be expected difficult rinks. Stewartry were still looking for their first points of the season and against an as usual tough Ayrshire team it was going to be a big ask.

Game started really well for the hosts and they raced into a 20 shot lead after only 5 ends. This increased over the next 5 ends to 32 shots as Stewartry really struggled to get the weight of the green. The game then went through a period where Stewartry were beginning to get to grips and they clawed back to peels on the big board around 13 ends away. Ayrshire then pressed ahead again and git back up by 26 shots only for Stewartry to come back in the last few ends to reduce the deficit to 14.

Again another good game played in a really excellent manner with both teams encouraging and supporting each other through to the end. Stewartry boys again gave everything they had and have lost 3 games and are only – 27 in shots. Big local derby against Wigtownshire on Saturday who arrive on the back of a great win against Lanarkshire. So lets have as many supporters down at Dalbeattie on Saturday to cheer the boys on.

Hughie