Bowls: Ramsays roll on with final triumph at Craigentinny

The Ramsay brothers have been stalwart figures of the Edinburgh and Leith bowling scene since two of them – Ronnie and Andrew – hit the national headlines as part of the Slateford rink that captured the Scottish Fours title in 1986.

And it’s part of the Capital City’s bowling folklore that the rink skipped by a young Robert Marshall and including RK Wright went on to win the British Isles title.

Last night’s finals of the E&L Championships at Craigentinny saw older brother Gordon join his two younger siblings to form the Slateford Triple – and they performed heroically to capture the title at the expense of a formidable Tanfield trio.

Andrew (47) – winner of the Edinburgh Open at Balgreen in 2001 – skipped Ronnie (43) and Gordon (51) to an 18-14 win over George Ganson, Andrew Sneddon and David Snodgrass, having made an explosive start to lead 9-2. Tanfield closed to six but had their revival cut short by a piledriver strike conversion from the Slateford skip that earned a three-shot reward to 12 and the Ramsays found themselves on easy street when leading 18-12 playing the last.

Tanfield suffered a second disappointment when their rink of Paul White, Peter Findlay Graeme Swan and Bob White crashed to a 20-11 defeat at the hands of Pilrig in the Fours.

Darren McKenny skipped Graeme Hislop Keith Mitchell and Gavin Smith to an opening run of 6, 2, 1, 3 to lead 12-0 after four ends and already it was all over for Tanfield.

James Hogg – soon to challenge for the British Isles Fours title – brought title glory to Carrick Knowe by skipping Raymond Smith to a 19-8 win over Gary Connelly and Jamie Gracie of Sighthill in the Pairs.

Sighthill made an encouraging start to lead 6-3 but the feel-good factor soon spread through the Carrick Knowe support as their duo stormed to 17 with a whirlwind run of 1, 2, 1, 4, 1, 5 and it was no contest after that.

The final of the Under-25 Singles for The James S Fleming Trophy lasted 23 ends with 19-year old Kerr McKail of Summerside capturing the title at the 21-16 expense of Colinton Mains’ Sean Alexander.

A hammer and tongs battle in the early stages saw peels being called at 12-12, but McKail transformed that picture with a full house count of four at the next end, and although menaced at 16-14 he pushed on to hit 21 six ends later.