ABBOTSFORD
THE A team played Melrose at home in what is normally a close encounter, but Abbotsford got off to a good start and never looked back, winning 103–56.
In a close game against Waverley, Abbotsford B were 10 shots up at one point and ended up on top, winning by four shots. In what was a good week for the club, the seniors went to Hawick and won 59–52.
In the area finals of the Scottish ties on Friday night, the pair of Kenny Johnstone and Colin Hancock played Lee Haldane and Ian Crawford (Melrose) on the Selkirk green. The Melrose pair pulled away, leading by 11 shots at one point. Despite a mini-revival by Abbotsford, Haldane and Crawford won comfortably.
In the singles, Tommy Newall played Andrew Borthwick (St Ronans) on the Waverley green in atrocious conditions. Borthwick adapted quickly to the conditions and never looked back, winning 21–6.
On Saturday, the club hosted the annual match against Corstorphine. The match was played in the usual friendly manner, and the home club won 83–50.
BBA
FOR the fifth match in the Hamilton Trophy series, Borders travelled to Camelon to face a team from Stirlingshire East.
Despite difficult playing conditions, the Borderers started well and after 10 ends were 17 shots ahead.
That lead fluctuated over the next five ends, but the Borders kept ahead.
Suddenly, however, alarm bells began to sound and Stirlingshire not only caught up, but momentarily took the lead. However, the last rink to finish held their nerve and finished with a count of five for the Borders to secure victory by 126-116.
The highest up rink was Matthew Fairley (Coldstream), Sufi Omari (Ayton), Malcolm Thin (Melrose) and Ian Crawford (Melrose). This result keeps the team in fifth place in the league, but they have two tough matches left, starting with Edinburgh & Leith on Saturday at Hawick.
On Sunday the Under-25 team was in action against Fife, but with some key players missing, were unable to secure a win.
Also on Sunday, the Chirnside club represented the Borders in the semi-finals of the Top 10 at Colinton. They are the first Borders club ever to reach this final stage of the Scottish competition and after good wins in the earlier rounds, faced a tough proposition against Kirkliston from West Lothian.
Although the fours and triples had bad starts, they soon settled down and all four categories of matches were very close contests. In the singles, Robert Patterson had the edge in the first half, but fell away towards the end.
Brian Robertson and Leslie Mitchell played very well in the pairs and even though they fell away at one stage they fought back and might well have won.
The same was true for Gavin Douglas, Jamie Mitchell and Graeme Forsyth in the triples, but they also suffered a narrow defeat.
In the fours, David Buglass, Derek Gilchrist, Graham Turner and James Black found the going the toughest, and although the Chirnside team finally lost 8-0 it had been a valiant effort.
GALASHIELS
In a week dominated by the poor weather conditions, the seniors managed to complete and win their match against Melrose/Earlston at home.
The ladies were away at Buccleuch and managed to gain two points for one winning rink, although they lost the actual match, conceding three points to their opponents.
For the men’s A team, the home fixture against Jedburgh was cancelled without a bowl being played for the second time in a row.
The highlight of the week, however, was on Sunday when Anne Forsyth, Moira Blyth and Gail Lindores qualified for the Scottish finals at Ayr (see report below).
NEWCASTLETON
THERE was an entry of 19 for the American bowling triples at Newcastleton last Sunday and the winners were the Langholm entry of Neil Campbell, Tom Reay and George Gordon.
In the final they beat the Eaglesfield entry of Sandy Kirkpatrick, George McCulloch and Terry Wellbourne.
In the semi-finals the eventual winners knocked out the Newcastleton triple of Stuart and Val Beadle and Irving Kerr.
The other beaten semi-finalists, also from the host club, were Steve and Sue Saunders and Barton Leah.
The tournament was sponsored by Copshaw Kitchen and the cup was presented to the winners by Newcastleton president Stuart Beadle.