Castle Douglas travelled to Sighthill in Edinburgh to take on Kirkliston in the semi final of the Top Five on Sunday.  The team knew they were in for a tough match against one of the strongest club sides in Scotland and so it proved.  Steven Richardson met former internationalist John Aitken and struggled to make an impact, going down 21 - 4.  Gavin Green played another former Scotland player Raymond Logan and lost out 21 - 8.  Alan Davies was up against current junior international skip Calum Logan and the CD player went down 21 - 10.  This gave Kirkliston the win 3 points to nil.  At the end Graeme Maxwell trailed current Scotland skip Grant Logan 19 - 11 and Scott Davies led Mark Allison 19 - 16.

In the other semi final Bonnyrigg beat Dalgety Bay 3 -2, but they too found Kirkliston too strong in the final, with Kirkliston taking the title 3 - 1.

Picture: The Castle Douglas five with Club President Norman Davies.

The final of the Stewartry Top Five competition was played at Dalbeattie, home green of the County Vice President Ronnie Gibson, on Tuesday evening. 

Holders Castle Douglas took on Creetown, and all of the games were close over the first half dozen ends. 

On rink one Scott Davies of CD took command over Eddie McCulloch at 3 - 3 and ran out a 21 - 3 winner.

Hugh Robertson of Castle Douglas trailed Steve Grassham 4 - 3 early on but Hugh enjoyed a run of 5 ends on the trot and took a 14 - 4 lead.  Hugh went on to take the point for Castle Douglas 21 - 8.

Castle Douglas’ Steven Richardson played Jim Maginess and trailed the former County President 12 - 6 at one point, however Steven fought back gamely and went on to win 21 - 13.

This gave Castle Douglas a 3 - 0 victory.  In the other two games CD’s Alan Davies led John McCulloch 14 - 12, and Graeme Maxwell trailed Robert Monteith by the same score, when the match ended.

This Sunday Castle Douglas, representing Stewartry, play host to Hyndland, Glasgow, in the national Top Five competition, with a spot at the finals day at Sighthill in Edinburgh on 8th September up for grabs.  The CD team is Alan Davies, Scott Davies, Gavin Green, Graeme Maxwell and Steven Richardson, and a close match is expected.  All Stewartry followers are invited to come along and support, and enjoy what should be some exciting bowling.

The Stewartry Top Ten Final, sponsored by Brian Swales Auto Repairs, was played at Kirkcudbright on Friday night between holders Castle Douglas and Auchencairn.  Auchencairn put up a strong show early, leading in the pairs and fours, and with the singles and triples both close.  Castle Douglas fought back and John Crawford took control of the singles game against John McGarrie, running out a comfortable winner, and putting two points on the board for the holders.  In the fours Graeme Maxwell, Gavin Green, Hugh Robertson and Michael Turnbull fought hard to turn the game around against Larry Little, Bob Hope, George Davidson and Stuart Crossan they gradually got the better of the Auchencairn four, finishing up winners by 5 shots.  The triples remained close all the way, until the Castle Douglas trio of Scott Davies, Allan Green and Gary Davies took back to back fours from Derek Rogerson, Bert Little and Sandy Little to leave themselves comfortably ahead in the last end.  The pair from Castle Douglas of Will Green and Billy Brydson trailed early against Scott McCubbin and Joe Caldow by 14 - 3 but fought back well to narrow the gap and eventually conceded their game by a few shots, knowing that the other three disciplines, and the match, had been won by their teammates.

The Top Ten shield was presented by Bryan Swales and Stewartry President Murray Cairnie congratulated both teams on a hard fought match.

The Stewartry Top Ten final is on Friday night @ Kirkcudbright.

The competition this year is sponsored by Bryan Swales Auto Rrepairs .

CASTLE DOUGLAS   V   AUCHENCAIRN

Castle Douglas played host to Slateford on Sunday in the quarter final of the Scottish Inter County Top Ten competition.  In the singles Wull Green lost to Robert Marshall 21 - 16.  The pair of Alan Davies and Billy Brydson lost 20 - 11 to Gordon Ramsay and Rab Stewart. Scott Davies, Allan Green and Gary Davies won narrowly in the triples 17-16 againt Andrew Ramsay, Graham McCaskie and Ronald Ramsay.  The Castle Douglas four of Graeme Maxwell, John Crawford, Hugh Robertson and Gavin Green won against Scott Brunton, Jamie Gracie, Lou Beaton and Alan Brash 21 - 12.  The game was tied 4 points each, but Slateford went through by 4 shots 69 - 65.

Inter County Top Five

Stewartry champions Castle Douglas were visited by Bonnyrigg, representing Midlothian, in the Inter County Top Five competition on Saturday.  The Top Five is a relatively new format with five games of singles taking place simultaneously, and the first team to reach three victories takes the match. 

Alan Davies took on Ronnie Duncan and fought back from 10 - 5 down to win his game 21 - 12 and earn the first point for the hosts.  Graeme Maxwell played John Stevenson and trailed 8 - 10 at one stage, however a run of 10 shots over the next 5 ends put Graeme in command and he took the point with a 21 - 11 victory.  Stewart Gilmour led Kevin McDougall from the start and despite a late fightback from the Midlothian man Stewart took the game and secured the victory 3 - 0 for Castle Douglas with a 21 - 15 win.

In the other two games John Crawford led Calum Redpath 16 -14, and Scott Davies was tied with Jamie Hanlan 20 - 20, when the match ended.

Castle Douglas now travel to Sighthill in Edinburgh on 16th September for the Top Five finals day.  They will meet Abbeyview (West Fife) or Craigentinny (Edinburgh and Leith) in the semi final.

The Stewartry Top Ten final between holders Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright was played on Friday night at Creetown.  In the singles Graeme Maxwell (CD) an early 9-3 lead but Kirkcudbright’s George Brown fought back to level at 9-9.  Graeme got in front again and led 16-13 but again George levelled at 16-16. Graeme took a 2 on the next end followed by a 3 on the next to wrap up the two points for Castle Douglas 21-16. 

In the pairs Robert and Brian McClune (Kbt) took a 9-3 lead against Billy Brydson and Alan Davis of CD.  The CD pair fought back by scoring on the next 7 ends to lead 12-9.  However Robert and Brian scored on the last two ends to level the match 12-12 and share the points.

The CD triple of Gary Davies, John Crawford and Scott Davies got off to a great start, leading 11-1 after six ends.  The Kirkcudbright triple of Tommy Docherty, Colin Campbell and David Gourlay took the next two ends but CD kept control of the game to run out 16-6 winners.

The fours game was close early on with CD’s Stewart Gilmour, Gavin Green, Will Green and Allan Green taking a narrow 7-6 lead over Kbt’s Jim Lawrie, Tam McKeand, Wig True and Steven Johnstone.  The Castle Douglas four took control by winning the next seven ends and took a 12 shot lead 18-6.  Kirkcudbright narrowd the gap over the last three ends but Castle Douglas won the game comfortably 19-10.

Stewartry President Jim Maginnes presented the Top Ten shield to Castle Douglas President Norman Davies.  Jim congratulated the Club on their 7 points to 1 win and hoped the Club could go further in the National Competition in 2013, having lost in the semi final in 2012.