The Stewartry Top Five semi finals were played last Tuesday evening.  In the first Castle Douglas defeated Auchencairn 3 - 0 at Dalbeattie, and in the second Kirkcudbright put out Gatehouse at Castle Douglas 3 - 1.  Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright were playing the final at Dalbeattie on Tuesday evening and the report will follow in next week’s News.

National Top Five

Castle Douglas played host to Thornton from Fife on Sunday in the prelim of the National Top Five competition.  The competition involves five games of 21-up singles play, with the first team to reach three wins taking the tie.

John Crawford led John Gibson 5 - 3 but the Thornton player fought back and took counts of 3,4,1 and 3 to lead 14 - 5.  John steadied the ship and replied emphatically, scoring in 8 of the last 9 ends of the game to put the first point on the board for Castle Douglas 21 shots to 15.

Graeme Maxwell looked to have things under control against Kevin Fleming when he led 16 - 7, however Kevin struck back to score 5 ends on the trot and lead 17 - 16.  He then moved within one shot of victory at 20 - 17 before Graeme scored a three to square matters at 20 - 20.  In the last end Kevin lay three before Graeme drew shot with his last bowl.  Kevin’s attempted trail on the jack just missed the target and Graeme took the second point for the home team.

With two points on the board Castle Douglas just needed one win out of the three remaining games to progress to the last eight of the competition.  William Brydson had a close tie with Kenny Balfour, with the scores tied at 8, 10, 11, 13 and 15 shots each.  William scored a vital three to lead 18 - 15 before losing two singles to make it 18 - 17.  William then scored another three to wrap up the victory 21 - 17.

Scott Davies had a close tussle with Jim Forbes and the players completed their game with Scott eventually losing out 21 - 17, and the final game was unfinished with Alan Davies leading Alan Morris 19 - 17 when the match was settled.

Castle Douglas now play host to Bonnyrigg in the last eight.  Having lost to Bonnyrigg in the first round of the National Top Ten in May this year the Castle Douglas boys will be seeking revenge.  The date for the match is still to be set and the details will be in next week’s News.

Photo shows the Castle Douglas and Thornton players, with Presidents Lorna Dobie and Alan Fleming in front, and the Fife Bowling Association President George Fairgrieve on the extreme right.

In the Top Five on Tuesday night Auchencairn beat Creetown & Castle Douglas beat Dalbeattie.

First team to win 3 games of 21 up wins the match.  Host club please provide 5 markers.

The Stewartry Bowling Association celebrated its 75th year with an invitation American competition at Dalbeattie on Sunday.  The weather was perfect and everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable day, with hospitality provided by the Association.  The winners of the competition were Wigtownshire Bowling Association, represented by Alan Hainey, Alex Hanlin, Ian Howatson and Scott Hainey.  In the final they beat Laurie Little, Bert Little, Billy Glendinning and John Hunter of Auchencairn.

Stewartry President Ronnie Gibson thanked everyone who had contributed to making the day a success, including the sponsors Ian Bendall Funeral Director, John McGaw Electrical and Bryan Swales Auto Repairs.

The photo shows (l to r) Ian, Alex, Scott and Alan of Wigtownshire, President Ronnie Gibson, and Auchencairn’s Laurie, Bert, Billy and John.

The final of the Stewartry Top Ten, sponsored by Bryan Swales Auto Repairs, was played at Dalbeattie on Friday night between Dalbeattie and holders Castle Douglas.  In the singles Graeme Maxwell of Castle Douglas edged out Bruce Richardson 21 - 17.  The pairs was close with Dalbeattie’s Billy McMinn and Tom Feenan levelling the match with a 16 - 12 win over William Brydson and Alan Davies.  This left the game in the balance with Castle Douglas 3 shots up with one end to play in both the triples and fours, and leaving Dalbeattie needing to score 4 shots to take the title.  It wasn’t to be for Dalbeattie as Castle Douglas’s Gary Davies, Will Green and Scott Davies scored a 5 to secure the win in the triples 17 - 5 over Dalbeattie’s Ronnie Gibson, Dennis McKnight and Stevie McMinn, and Gavin Green, Hugh Robertson, John Crawford and Allan Green of Castle Douglas scored a 2 to lose narrowly to Dalbeattie’s Kenny Logan, Rab Mason, Stewart Tait and Mick Kirkpatrick 14 - 16.  This made the final score 4 each on points but Castle Douglas retained the title on shots 64 - 54.

Stewartry Bowling Association

75^th Anniversary American Competition

Dalbeattie Sunday 6^th July 2014

Section 1 – 9.30am                                           Section 2 – 9.30am

Auchencairn A                                                    Creetown A

Castle Douglas A                                               Dalbeattie A

Gatehouse A                                                       Kirkcudbright A

Spalding A                                                          New Abbey A

Stewartry Committee A                                      Ex Presidents A

Dumfriesshire                                                     Sponsors/Guests

Section 3 –10.15am                                           Section 4 –10.15am

Auchencairn B                                                    Castle Douglas B

Creetown B                                                          Dalbeattie B

Gatehouse B                                                      Kirkcudbright B

New Abbey B                                                      Spalding  B

Stewartry Committee B                                       Ex Presidents B

Wigtownshire                                                      Bowls Scotland

Stewartry Committee A – R Gibson, G Maxwell, S Davies, W Neville

Stewartry Committee B – S McCubbin, R McClune, J Peacock, J Harper

Ex Presidents A – G Haining, J McNally, A Harvie, J McFarlane

Ex Presidents B – D Rogerson, A McFegan, J Fleming, R Hope

Sponsors/Guests – A Green, A MacLeod, H Robertson, B Swales

Rinks from Stewartry clubs are requested to bring one raffle prize per rink for the day, thank you.

The play offs for the county singles were held on Sunday at Auchencairn, with the entrants competing for a spot on county finals day on Sunday 7th September.  In the first semi final two Castle Douglas players went head to head.  Graeme Maxwell trailed Will Green 12 - 4 at one point but he fought back to take a 14 - 12 lead.  He moved further ahead to lead 19 - 16 however Will scored three singles to level at 19 each, and lay 4 on the next end before Graeme drew second shot to save the match.  On the next end Graeme took a two to win the match 21 - 19.  In the second semi defending champion George Brown of Kirkcudbright played host club player Scott McCubbin.  George took an early lead and went 12 - 4 up, only for Scott to fight back to lead 13 - 12.  George scored on the next four ends to lead 17 - 13 and went on to secure the win 21 - 14.

Stewartry had Dunbartonshire as guests at Castle Douglas on Saturday in the final county game of the season.  The hosts fought hard with nothing more at stake than pride, and around half way through the match began to take control, notching up a 20 shot lead. Dunbartonshire fought back to get the deficit back below 10 shots, but the Stewartry picked it up again and ran out comfortable winners by 139 shots to 110.

Results (Stewartry first)

Scott Davies 19 - 22 Grant Russell
Scott McCubbin 39 - 19 Gordon Stalker
Keith Shuttleworth 24 - 15 Alan McDade
Graeme Maxwell 26 - 13 David Miller
Alan Davies 15 - 22 Graham Tait
George Brown 16 - 19 George McCartney