Bowls: Ramsay outshines rest to reach Under-25 semi-finals

Ramsay’s success outshone the efforts of the Edinburgh and Lothian brigade of under-25 club champions in reaching the showcase finale of the national championships at Ardrossan on the weekend of December 3 and 4.

High hopes rested with Bainfield’s Jamie Aitken and he made an excellent start, beating Teviotdale 21-12 in the preliminary round. However, his return to the carpet at Falkirk IBC saw him make a 21-9 exit to Dundee.

Ross Nisbet, a substitute for Portobello champion Andrew Caldwell (over-age) – saw his hopes for a strong show dashed by a 21-8 defeat from Inverness in the first round proper.

Junior cap Calum Crawford carried the hopes of Midlothian IBC but in a nerve-tingling climax to his first-round battle against Buchan, he was pipped 21-20.

East Lothian hopes rested with Ross Thompson and he delivered a promising 21-10 win over Bon Accord in the preliminary round before bowing out 21-12 to Daniel Colvin of Stonehaven.

West Lothian IBC mounted a two-pronged attack with junior caps Cameron Greer and Calum Logan.

Logan, qualifying as title holder, put up a stout defence of his crown with wins over Coatbridge (21-13), Ardrossan (21-13) and Auchinleck (21-7) to reach the quarter-finals.

However, he was denied a place in the semi-finals when going down 21-18 to Craig Cobbledick of Prestwick.

Greer received a bye in the preliminary round then survived a 21-20 thriller with Garioch before emerging from another nail-biting climax to beat Arbroath 21-19 for a place in the quarter-finals.

However, West Lothian’s official challenger was sent packing after an 21-15 defeat from Daniel Colvin, who now faces Cobbledick, while Ramsay goes head-to-head with Martin McCalley of Falkirk.

In the semi-finals of the women’s under-25 event, Stacey Laidlaw (Midlothian IBC) will face Michelle Keenan of Dumbarton and Lesley Gordon (East Fife) squares up to Kirsty Gardner of Coatbridge after the Edinburgh challenge from Hazel Crombie (Bainfield) and Alison McDougall (Portobello) was quickly extinguished with both losing their first matches.