DANNY JACKSON will carry the hopes of The Edinburgh Club and District 12 in the Singles discipline of the national championships that will run from July 31 to August 2 at Ayr Northfield.
Jackson upset the odds with a surprise 21-12 win over David McGill of Braid in finals night at Whitehouse and Grange and it took the 24-year old dark horse 22-ends to beat the 1976 national champion.
McGill – a legend of bowls in the Capital – fai
led to spark in the early stages and Jackson punished him 12-2 then countered several and varied tactic ploys of McGill to remain in command at 18-12 before hitting 21 with a 1, 2, finish.
The Edinburgh Club was formed in 1848 and is the capital city's oldest but has been sentenced to extinction at the end of the season by landlords The Royal Company of Archers.
So there is great delight in wider Edinburgh & Leith circles that Jackson will carrying the club's banner onto the national stage of the sport and in its most high-profile discipline.
There are huge sighs of relief down Bainfield way that one of the clubs brightest emerging talents, Paul O'Donnell, has finally earned the chance to parade his skills on the national championship stage.
But the 22-year former City of Edinburgh Open Champion was forced to pull out all the stops from 14-7 down to peg back Ross Herriot and beat the talented Stenhouse player 21-17 in 20 ends.
Scotland's junior indoor captain responding to his wake up call with a run of 1, 1, 2, 4, 1 to cross 16-14 then producing a 3, 1, finish from peels at 17.
Carrick Knowe enjoyed a double success with wins over Currie and Slateford in the Pairs and Triples respectively.
James Hogg skipped Darren Hush to a 22-12 win over Paul Anderson and Kenny Melville having dictated most of the pace to lead 16-12 after 15-ends then climaxing their performance with a sizzling six.
It was a bleak outlook in the early stages of the Triples however with Graham Pringle John Priestley and Alan Poole 13-6 adrift of Slateford's Davy Bell Rab Stewart and Andrew Ramsay.
Poole served up two magic conversions on the run in however and counts of 2, 3, (1), 4, 2 transformed the deficit into a 17-15 victory.
Contrasting highs and lows of emotion in the Fours saw Rab Gardner David Grant Alex Hurry and Paul Veitch of Parkside ecstatic at their 21-20 victory over Bainfield having converted for a magic 3 at the last.
Bainfield were left stunned as Brian Stoddart had skipped Ian Brown Paul Miller and Craig Paterson into a 17-3 lead after seven ends. And more pain for Bainfield saw Seniors Four favourites Willie McIntosh Jim Cowan John Bell and Alec Ross crushed 17-7 by Gordon Wellington David Jamieson Jim McNiven and Bill Parker of Coltbridge.
The full article contains 502 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
