THE East Lothian duo of Alex Marshall, Gifford BC, and Cockenzie & Port Seton BC’s Lauren Baillie are part of a Scotland elite squad currently playing in the United States as the final stage of the selection process for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

All the current men’s and women’s squad – except former Garden County player Paul Foster, who is recovering from an illness – together with Bowls Scotland head coach David Gourlay, a physiotherapist and sport psychologist from the sportscotland institute of sport, have made the trip to the Sarasota Lawn Bowling Club in Florida.

The benefit of using this venue is to play on grass which runs at the same speed as the Glasgow Games venue, Kelvingrove.

The Canada squad are also in Florida this week for their own selection event, giving the Scots competitive opportunities in the final stages of a training and selection programme which began two and a half years ago when Gourlay was appointed.

“Everyone in the Scotland squad has already satisfied the selection criteria,” said Gourlay. “This week is about fine tuning, sorting out team dynamics and getting people playing in the proper disciplines.

“As a summer sport, it is important that the final selection event is conducted on a grass green which is running at the same speed as Kelvingrove.” Bowls Scotland’s selection panel will meet on March 7 to agree on the five men and five women who they will nominate to Commonwealth Games Scotland to compete in the Glasgow 2014 Games. The team will be announced later this spring.

The talented senior side from East Lothian IBC were on parade at Bainfield IBC in Edinburgh last Wednesday when they tackled West Lothian in the first round of the Senior Scottish Cup and the Garden County ‘auld yins’ were made to fight all the way before progressing to the next round with a hard-fought 57-47 victory.

Jock Brodie suffered a 10-shot defeat but wins for the rinks skipped by Tom Young (+9), Willie Wood (+7) and Peter Laidlaw (+4) earned them a second-round match against Falkirk at Abbeyview IBC in Dunfermline on Wednesday.

Hopes that the respective gents’ and ladies’ fours champions from East Lothian IBC would mount a serious challenge for the national title fell by the wayside in last weekend’s playdown action at Cumbernauld IBC.

The representation in the gents’ playdown action was top notch, with internationalist Derek Oliver skipping Mark Johnston, Stevie Thomson and Jamie Higgins, but their stay in the limelight was short lived as they made a very disappointing 24-16 first-round exit to Falkirk.

The strong-looking rink of Emma Brown, Margaret Thomson, Yvonne Veitch and Janet Fairnie carried the East Lothian banner in the ladies’ event but they also failed to progress beyond the first round, going down 26-12 against Auchinleck.

The gents’ side from East Lothian IBC embark on their Scottish Cup trail tomorrow (Saturday) and face a tough-looking first-round clash against fellow Premier League side Blantyre at West Lothian IBC in Livingston.

The defending champions go into the cup clash missing the services of four first-team regulars in the shape of iconic figures Marshall and Oliver, along with Steven Morgan and Jamie Gordon, while there is also a serious question mark hanging over the availability of ace player Scott Kennedy following a recent close family bereavement.

The selectors have handed recalls to Gary Muir, Stewart Thomson and Tom Young, while recently crowned National Under-18 Singles champion Calum Darling earns a well-deserved call-up to the side.

Despite having to make wholesale changes, East Lothian are still able to field a strong formation, headed up by four competitive skips in captain Billy Mellors, Jamie Higgins, Kennedy (if available) and veteran Willie Wood.

The team reads: G. Muir, G. Darling, A. Jeffrey, B. Mellors capt/skip. K. Simants, D. Berwick, M. Johnston, J. Higgins skip. C. Cook, C. Darling, S. W. Thomson, S. Kennedy skip. E. Fallen, T. Young, G. Robertson, W. W. Wood skip.

The ladies’ side are also involved in first-round Scottish Cup action tomorrow and they make the trip to Abbeyview IBC in Dunfermline to face Falkirk.

It shapes up as a very tough assignment for East Lothian against a Falkirk side that finished top of the B section of the Premier League but were squeezed out by Ayrshire giants Auchinleck on shot margin.

“Falkirk are a class act operating in a higher league than us, but the cup is all about upsets and we will be trying our utmost to obtain a shock result,” said a spokesperson.

The following team has been announced: G. Mackintosh, A. Irvine, M. Thomson, J. Fairnie skip. A. Barclay, M. Devine, M. Hamilton, E. Brown skip. M. Murray, R. Mackintosh, I. Gray, N. McNeil skip. J. McFarlane, J. Russell, C. Ward, Y. Veitch skip The youth side from East Lothian IBC were in East of Scotland Junior League action at Meadowmill on Saturday morning and managed to record a hard fought 5-2 points win over Abbeyview.

Wins on the rinks skipped by Dean Riva (+10) and Calum Darling (+1) adequately covered the single-shot defeat sustained on the rink skipped by Calvert Allison.

“Another great win but we need a miracle to catch leaders Midlothian, who remain undefeated, but a win against Bainfield in our final fixture should be good enough for us to secure runners-up spot”, commented youth convenor Peter Fallen.

Meanwhile, the youths are in Scottish Top 10 quarter-final action tomorrow when they tackle Stirling on away territory. Fallen has been forced to reconsider his team selection plans after he received the news that Darling had been selected for the gents’ side.

Soon-to-be Scotland Under-17 cap Allison will spearhead the Garden County challenge in the singles, while Megan Kivlin and Lewis Betts are in the pairs. Robbie Shields, Cameron Shaw and Riva team up in the triples and Aaron Betts, Kieran Dodds, Robbie Buchanan and Craig Mackintosh join forces in the fours.

If the Garden County ‘young yins’ emerge victorious over Stirling, they will travel to Falkirk IBC on Sunday for the tournament finals day.