Published: Thursday, 12th February, 2009 6:30am

Marshall retains his No.1 spot

EAST LOTHIAN kingpin Alex "Tattie" Marshall"s disappointing World Bowls Tour season came to an end last Wednesday when he crashed out in the second round of the Welsh International Open in Swansea.

The out-of-sorts record five times world champion, who celebrated his 42nd birthday last Sunday, failed to show any sort of form at all and only scored on four ends throughout the match, eventually losing 8-4, 11-2 with an end to spare in both sets against Mark Dawes, the 26-year-old English qualifier from Bury.

With it being the last ranking event of the season, that defeat could have possibly cost Marshall his place at the top of the world rankings but thankfully results went in his favour and he retained his No.1 status - just a single point ahead of his nearest rival Mark Royal.

Marshall"s East Lothian clubmate Paul Foster faired a lot better in the tournament reacheding the semi-final before losing in straight sets (7-4, 9-3) to surprise winner Robert Chisholm of Newcastle.

East Lothian IBC men"s side launched their bid for Scottish Cup title glory with a commanding 44 shot victory (104-60) over Nithsdale in the preliminary round action at Tweedbank last Saturday.

Good wins on three of the fours rinks ensured the title favourites endured a comfortable passage through to the first round proper. The winning skips were Willie Wood (+27), Scott Kennedy (+20) and Brian Wyllie (+8), while James Hogg (-12) was the one who tasted defeat.

'We missed out last season on completing a hat-trick of title wins in the cup and that failure is firing our ambition to reclaim the silverware,' said team captain Jamie Higgins.

All eyes in the world of Scottish bowling will be on Dundee Indoor Bowling Club tomorrow (Saturday) with the playoff final of the Scottish Premier League between three-in-a-row defending champions East Lothian and Blantyre.

The Garden County goes into the high noon showdown minus the services of top skip Alex Marshall but the return of his fellow world stage star Paul Foster is a huge bonus for the EL camp.

Club champion James Hogg receives a huge vote of confidence from the selectors as he retains his skipping role in place of Marshall, while the other two skips are Graham Robertson and the ever-reliable Willie Wood. The full team reads:

J.Higgins capt, D Oliver, B Wyllie, G Robertson skip, M Johnston, D Berwick, D Oliver, WW Wood skip, M Higgenbotham, J Stevenson, S Kennedy, P Foster skip, S Wyllie, S A Thomson, A Jeffrey, J Hogg skip

The rink draw for the final was made recently and reads as follows:

Rink 2: James Hogg v Brian Irvine

Rink 3: Paul Foster v Ian McLean

Rink 4: Willie Wood v Alex Kelly

Rink 5: Graham Robertson v Jim McCann

No matter what the result, the East Lothian players and supporters will return to Meadowmill stadium on Saturday evening for a cup final/Valentine"s night disco to which all members and guests are invited to attend.

A side from East Lothian IBC is in Scottish Team Championship quarter-final action on Sunday at Portobello IBC when they tackle local rivals Midlothian in a mouth-watering clash which gets underway at 2pm.

Falkirk dealt East Lothian IBC"s senior side a 68-62 shock exit in last Wednesday"s first round action in the Scottish Senior Cup at Bainfield.

East Lothian IBC"s youth side are back in East of Scotland Junior League action tomorrow (Saturday) morning as they make the short trip to Dalkeith to tackle local rivals Midlothian.

Going into the penultimate match of the campaign, the Garden County young brigade hold a two point lead over the chasing pack but go into tomorrow"s derby clash missing a number of first team regulars due to holiday commitments.

But youth convener Peter Fallen is still confident he can field a team that will be good enough to emerge victorious and take a huge step towards winning the title.

Meanwhile, Luke Newlands and Kieren Simmants were in School of Excellence action at Abbeyview IBC last weekend but despite excellent efforts both failed to make it through to the next stage of the prestigious event.