EAST Lothian bowling legend Alex Marshall is a world champion once again after lifting the World Indoor Pairs title.

At the World Indoor Championships at the Potters Resort yesterday (Monday), Marshall and former East Lothian team-mate Paul Foster defeated the the English pairing of Greg Harlow and Nicky Brett in the pairs final.

This is Marshall and Foster's fourth title together and Marshall’s sixth pairs title in total, having also won the title with Richard Corsie and David Gourlay previously.

Foster and Marshall started well and were soon in command in the opening set with some fine bowling displayed. They opened up a three-shot lead with two ends to play before the English pairing put some pressure on the last end by scoring two.

An excellent trail of the jack by Foster with this third bowl and a matching bowl on the other side of the jack by Marshall looked like clinching the set until Brett ditched the jack with his last bowl, only for the jack to go to Foster's chalker, which Brett had driven into the ditch with his second bowl, to see the Scottish pair winning the set 8-6.

The second set started with some high scores as Foster and Marshall opened up with two fours, which were split by a three for the English to leave the score at 8-3.

However, from this point the English pairing hit top form to score 10 shots without reply over the next four ends and went on to open up a 13-8 lead with only two ends remaining.

But Foster and Marshall were not done in the set yet and three drawn bowls from the pair saw them enter the last end two down and requiring a two to secure the title.

With Marshall to play his last bowl they were one shot down, which was jack high around three inches from the jack. Marshall then, as he has done under pressure at the highest level on numerous occasions now, played a perfectly weighted world-class shot to swap places with the shot and leave the Scots lying the match.

When Brett missed with his strike, the title was theirs for a fourth time, following their wins in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Marshall, who is also the record-breaking six-time World Indoor Singles champion, last week began his singles campaign with a closer-than-expected tie-break win over Ray Martin from New Zealand in the first round and is due to do battle with Nicky Brett once more on Thursday in the last 16.