Bowls: Battling brothers add spice as Mann picks up another title

The final featured a clash between the Spiers brothers with James skipping Stewart McMaster and Blair Mackie.

The form book had the trio of international players as being firm favourites and, sure enough, Neil showed no mercy to his older brother as he skipped his front two to a commanding 16-4 victory that included a punishing run of 1, 3, 1, 6.

The Two-Bowl Pairs championship final was contested between the underdog partnership of David Wilson junior and Scott McMaster and the battled-hardened campaigners Des Hagart and Stuart Johnston.

Hagart – a former player of the season and Johnston a British Isles Fours champion – looked good for claiming the first set when leading 8-6 entering the last end but were stunned by the loss of a 3 to be pipped 9-8.

A positive reaction by the title favourites saw them dominate the second set with an opening blitz of 1, 3, 3 and that was good enough for them to go on and win 7-2 to take the final into a deciding set.

The climax to the final turned into something of a thriller with Wilson and McMaster in total control to capture the set 9-0 and leave the stadium as surprise champions.

There was also a shock in the final of the Mixed Pairs with the highly-fancied Claire Watson and George Sneddon left devastated by the sizzling form of Maureen Taylor and Tam Stanton who included a 7 and a 6 in their 24-8 victory.

At Bainfield IBC, the final of the Seniors Fours ended with a close-run success for the rink of Alex Hunter, Davy Lees, Irvine Kemp and Bill Little.

Little and Co looked to be well in charge at 10-4 up after eight ends and held on to win but were stretched to limit by John Dickson, Peter Stewart, Malcolm Cook and Andy Wilson, who closed to 13-12.

Walter Borthwick opened with a run of 1, 2, 4, 4 to lead 11-0 in the Seniors Triples and he went on to skip Stuart Wilson and Tam Seggie to a 19-7 win over George Hanson, Dougie Garry and Findlay Elder.