Brora beaten for semi-finals place
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THURSO Bowling Club came through a tough encounter against Brora to reach the semi-final of the district Top Ten competition.
With the green playing slower than normal due to the overnight rain, Brora took advantage early on and were up in all four games.
But once the Thurso players acclimatised to the conditions they gradually got themselves back into contention and began to claw back points.
Ronnie Bain, Thurso, had to fight all the way to the end against Colin Dent with both players producing some excellent bowls. The game was decided when Ronnie picked up a two on the 24th end to finally see Colin off 21-19.
The Thurso pairs of Alan Morrison and Brian Cormack found themselves well down but fought back well to only lose by 19 shots to 16.
John Harris, Douglas Fraser and Brian Tewnion scored a much needed seven to go clear of the Brora triple and held on to win 19-14.
This left Steven Buttress’s rink of Ian Pickthal, Douglas Morrison and Nigel Gower to keep the count low on their final end to guarantee Thurso victory, which they duly did to record a 16-13 win. The final score was Thurso 6, Brora 2.
Thurso now entertain the strong and experienced Inverness Bowling Club in the semi-final on August 7.
This will be a big test for the local team but gents’ captain Brian Tewnion is confident that home advantage may just swing it in Thurso’s favour.
Thurso made the short trip across the Pentland Firth to play Kirkwall Bowling Club in the P&O Trophy but did not return home victorious.
Played over the Saturday and Sunday, Thurso were well in contention after the first day’s play with the Orkney team holding a slim 86-78 shot lead.
Sunday, however, saw Orkney extend their lead and Thurso, which had five juniors in their side, finally succumbed to a 184-150 defeat. The Orkney club members were full of praise for the very well behaved and playing standard of the Thurso juniors.
Ronnie Bain and Alan Morrison secured Thurso’s first county title of the year when they won the county pairs competition held at their home club.
In the final they beat the St Fergus pairing of Colin MacIntosh and Brian Harcus who will be heading for the Scottish national finals in Ayr next week.
Thurso will also have its representatives when the national finals kick off on Wednesday, with Jillian Tewnion, Janet Sinclair and Lorna McDermid challenging in the ladies triples.
Last Saturday saw the Thurso club hold its Cummings Cup open mixed pairs competition, which was sponsored by Doosan Babcock.
A total of 24 pairs took to the green at 9am. Dar Sutherland and Jessie Meiklejohn were playing well early to knock out last year’s winners, Sandra Grant and Derry Cormack, from the Rosebank club in Wick, but were ousted in a close game against Marie and Keith MacKay in the quarter-finals.
Marie and Keith the accounted for Janet Sinclair and Douglas Fraser in another tight game to reach the final.
Their final opponents were Lorna McDermid and Brian Cormack who came through a hard-fought battle with Lynne Swanson and Nigel Gower and then beat Lynne’s mother, Jackie, along with Calum Elder in the semis.
The final was a very cagey affair with the game tied at eight-all after 12 ends.
But it was Lorna and Brian who finished as the stronger pairing in the damp conditions to lift the trophy by 14 shots to eight.
This Saturday sees the ladies take over the green to hold a pairs round-robin tournament and a singles ?competition.
