Bowls: Midlothian Ladies blow away Bainfield

The Midlothian camp suffered a series of late call-offs for the clash at the Alex Marshall Arena, East Lothian, but still proved too strong for their Division One challengers.

The absence of Ellie Borthwick, Margaret Porter and Janette Conlan was covered by call-ups for Norma Shillinglaw, Mary Clement and Rose McGlashan while all four regular Midlothian skips were on parade in the shape of Sandra McLeish, Annie Rutherford, Stacey McDougall and team leader Shona Johnstone.

McLeish stepped up to the plate in magnificent style to deliver an inspirational performance in skipping Sandra Muir, Shillinglaw and Grace McGregor to a massive 22-shot victory.

It greatly helped the Midlothian cause that the victim of the McLeish onslaught was Bainfield’s icon figure Mandy O’Donnell and her rink of Heather Stoddart, Chloe Thomson and Rita Reid.

McLeish first threw down the gauntlet with a run of 1, 1, 6 to lead 8-1 after four ends but peels were called at 8-8 before an explosive response from the Midlothian rink resulted in an extended blitz spell of 3, (2), 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 1, 3 that demolished O’Donnell and Co 32-10.

Rutherford also inflicted double-figure pain on Bainfield having skipped Dorothy Millar, Rose McGlashan and Annette Wilson on a run of 3, 4, 3, 3, 1 to lead 14-5 then stay on strongly to score a 29-14 victory over Davina Crawford, Betty Eaton, Isobel Anderson and Marion Dickson.

McDougall found the early stages tough going against Gladys Christie, Cathie Falconer, Isa Wilson and Anne Watson but battled back from 4-9 to 12-11. Then, having dropped a five, responded with a six as she skipped Lorna Goldsmith, Mary Clement, and May Brownlee to a 26-19 victory.

Johnstone made it a four out of four by skipping Elaine Young, Alison Plenderleith and Janette McVicar to a 19-13 win over Aimee Roberston, Karen Tumblety, Susan Allan and Anna Anderson.