Published: Thursday, 15th January, 2009 7:30am

County duo crash out of world pairs

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ICONIC county bowlers Alex Marshall MBE and Paul Foster crashed out of the Potters Holidays World Indoor Pairs Championship, edged out in the final end of a dramatic tie-break by Irish qualifiers Ian McClure and Jeremy Henry in the first round of the World Bowls Tour event at Potters Leisure Resort in Norfolk.

It will be back to the drawing board for Marshall and Foster, who have won the singles title an amazing eight times between them in the last 11 years, but have yet to taste success in the pairs since joining up in 2003. They won the opening set against 2004 champions McClure and Henry, leading all the way to win 9-3, but the Irish duo came storming back in the second, opening up a 7-0 lead after six ends of the second, eventually winning 7-5.

However, the momentum swung the Scots way in the tie break with Foster drawing to within half an inch of the jack to take the first end, but McClure left the Irishmen in an unbeatable position on the remaining two to seal the verdict.

Both players would be hoping for better fortunes in their opening matches in the singles event as five times champion Marshall faced up to English qualifier Robert Paxton on Wednesday while Foster launched his bid for a fourth title success on Thursday against New Zealand qualifier Denis Leeden.

East Lothian star Derek Oliver was last weekend part of a Scotland under-25 side that just failed in their bid for a third successive British Isles Junior Home International series as they had to settle for second best to auld enemy England at Abbeyview IBC in Dunfermline.

The young Scots started brightly with a 95-64 win over Ireland followed by a 78-66 victory against Wales to set up a Sunday morning series decider against England, who were also unbeaten. England made the early running, taking 22-11 five end lead before the Scots charged back to hold a narrow 34-31 advantage at the halfway stage. However in a noisy, shot-for-shot battle in the final phase it was England who took the result 73-68 to take the title for the first time since 2006.

Team captain Oliver bowed out of the junior international scene on an ultimate high as for the second consecutive year he skipped his rink to another 100 per cent record and yet again finished top Scottish rink.

Meanwhile Emma Brown will be part of the Scotland Ladies under-25 side that is in action this weekend at Belfast in the Junior Ladies Home International series.

The men"s side return to Scottish Premier League action tomorrow (Saturday) and the B section leaders will attempt to book their place in the national final for a fourth consecutive year at the first time of asking when they make the trip north to face Aberdeen.

In normal circumstances the garden county side would be hot favourites to win however they have four regulars unavailable for selection. Ace skips Alex Marshall and Paul Foster are down south for the World Singles, holiday commitments rule out Scott Kennedy while work commitments rule out Alister Kennedy for the rest of the season.

Ex-Midlothian star Colin Cook along with David Sked, John Stevenson and Stevie Thomson come off the reserve bench to fill the gaps in the team. James Hogg and Derek Oliver step up to skip in a team that should still be good enough to take the points.

The ladies" side run of disappointing results in the Scottish Ladies League Cup continued last Saturday as they suffered a third straight loss with a home defeat against local rivals Portobello. They round off their campaign next Saturday (January 24) with a trip to fellow strugglers Tweedbank.

The senior side finished their qualifying campaign in the East B section of the Scottish Senior League Cup in style with a comfortable 78-51 home victory over West Lothian last Wednesday. The garden county "auld yins" finished a whopping six points clear of their nearest challengers as they progressed into Wednesday"s knockout stage where a quarter-final clash with Abbeyview at neutral West Lothian IBC awaited them.

There was also senior action at Meadowmill stadium on Wednesday as the opening week of qualifying matches in the Jock Brodie Trophy were staged with East Lothian B tackling Tweedbank A while in a local derby Portobello faced Midlothian. The popular tournament for the "auld yins" is now into it"s 11th year and this year again it has attracted a healthy total of 12 teams from the length and breadth of Scotland with the host club (East Lothian) entering two sides (A and B) into the draw.

For the eighth successive year Norman T Craig from Haddington has kindly agreed to sponsor the tournament and organisers received further good news when Tranent based Co-operative Funeral Care also indicated they will give the tournament financial backing for the fifth year in a row.

A side from East Lothian IBC is in Scottish Team Championship action on Sunday as West Lothian IBC in Livingston is the neutral venue for a second round clash against Stirling (2pm).

The runaway express that is East Lothian youth side powered its way to a fourth success in a row in the East of Scotland Junior League with a 5-2 points triumph at defending champions East Fife last Saturday morning.

Wins for the rinks skipped by Ross Parkin and Fraser Pringle made it another comprehensive winning performance from the league leaders. The only blip in a near perfect copybook was a narrow defeat for Ewan Fallen.