It was a very successful week for bowlers at Markinch B.C. in most of the competitions. In the Fife South West Area finals, played at Headwell on Thursday evening, it was D.Baldie, B.Marchbanks, B.Bell and P.McTavish (skip) who progressed in the Senior 4’s competition into the Fife Finals to be played at Windygates on 6th July. In the Wemyss & District League, the Seniors fixture on Wednesday afternoon was against Leven B.C. with K.Maskell, J.Duff, R.Marchbank and J.Dewar (skip) performing well in the away game, to lead 13-8, then 14-9 with only 2 ends to play. However, they lost 2 shots and then 3 shots on the last end to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory. It was a more clearcut result in the home game where D.Oliphant, J.Hay, P.McTavish and T.Young (skip) started very slowly, to trail 3-15 after 8 ends played and although they won 5 of the last 7 ends they still lost the game 11-18. The overall result was a 1-4 defeat.
On Friday evening at Markinch, despite being without several of their first choice players for the Division 1 game against league leaders Buckhaven, the players were in a confident mood. On rink 1, T.Dewar, M.Dewar, T.Pettigrew and T.Young (skip) were in scintillating form and soon led 11-0 after only 5 ends played. The loss of 5 shots on end 8 to close the score to 11-9 didn’t dent the confidence of the rink and they lost only another 3 single shots to record an incredible 23 12 victory. On rink 3, M.Comrie, D.Whyte, Jamie Cameron and D.Comrie (skip) seemed to be cruising to another win as they led 16-10, but inexplicably they lost a count of 6 shots on end 14 to level the scores 16-16. They went into the last end trailing by 1 shot, but never say die D.Comrie, lying 1 shot then drew another shot with the last bowl to record a majestic 19-18 win. On rink 5, it was left to B.Drysdale, Jim Cameron, Jim Clark and C.Falconer (skip) to complete the whitewash with another win and this looked to be on the cards, as they led 15-11 with only 2 ends left to play. The loss of three shots meant they led by 1 shot playing the last end and with the shot against them, C.Falconer decided to play the last bowl, rather than accepting a draw in his game, which would have given the team a 7-1 victory. Unfortunately, he turned one of the opponents bowls in for another shot and lost his game 15-16, which gave an overall winning score of 6-2 to Markinch, which they probably would have accepted before the game started and they are now in a
very challenging position for the League title only 2 points behind the new leaders Kirkcaldy West End.
On Saturday, the Gilmour Trophy took place with the three Markinch rinks travelling to greens in various parts of Fife. At Dysart B.C., T.Dewar, A.McFadzean, R.Marchbank and T.Young (skip) secured a 3 shot win against Bowhill. This was followed at Cowdenbeath B.C.by a 6 shot win for B.Crombie, J.Hay Snr., J.Lafferty and B.Bell (skip) against Methilhill. In the final game at Guardbridge B.C., M.Dewar, L.McAllister, J.Marshall and J.Dewar also managed a 4 shot win against Buckhaven, giving Markinch a total of 6 points and 13 shot. If this is enough to win the trophy will be discovered when all the cards have been returned to Fife Bowling Association.
On Saturday, at Strathmiglo B.C. the District 7 finals of the SWBA were held with Markinch ladies competing in four of the finals. In the morning games, it was an all Markinch final with Emma Blyth competing against Havana Clark in the Junior Singles. The two highly talented bowlers put on an excellent show and the final result would have been a lot closer, but unfortunately, in at least three occasions Emma inadvertently gave the shot away when she was actually lying shot. In the end it was Havana who triumphed to win the title and confirm her place at Ayr in the Scottish finals. In the Senior Singles final Sandra Young started very well and held a narrow 12-9 lead before her opponent started to pick up shots and for some reason Sandra struggled to get back into the game. It looked as if she would be heading for the exit door, as she trailed 12-19, but one thing Sandra possesses is never knowing when she is beaten. She picked up a shot, shortened the jack length and managed to close the score to 16-19. However, when her opponent trailed the jack back to lie game, Sandra produced another magic bowl to win the end. On the next end, Sanda played exceptional bowls to force her opponent to try and strike the head, which she failed to do and Sandra picked up a count of 4 shots to win the game 21-19 and another Markinch player was heading to the Scottish finals. In the afternoon sessions, there was Markinch interest in the Pairs and Fours finals, unfortunately, the results went against the Markinch teams. In the Pairs final, C.Sword and S.Young lost to Guardbridge and in the Fours final F.Cameron, B.Whyte, D.Pettigrew and S.Watson lost to Leven, but it was excellent to see so many Markinch ladies in the District finals.
