Garioch bowlers miss out on Scottish Team Championship final win
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Garioch beat Ardrossan 5 points to 3 in the Scottish Team Championships semi-final, but lost against West Lothian 2-6, in the final at Abbeyview (Dunfermline) on Sunday.
West Lothian beat Midlothian 6-2 in the other semi-final.
All three teams, including Ardrossan and Midlothian, in opposition, were from the Premier leagues as opposed to Garioch in North District League.
As correspondent Mike Barron explains: "The final was a great fight, in that Garioch Singles won 21-18, Pairs lost 15-16, Triples lost 8-17, and Fours were well beaten 6-20 for a Final score of 50-71.
"The singles match was close, with neither player leading by more than a few shots.
"Jason Banks was down 2-5 at the third end, at 25 it was 19-18, and he took two shots at the next end to take match 21-18.
"A fine win and 2 points.
"The Pairs had Angela Banks with husband Colin, and they were 11-9 up at the 10th end, but did not score in next four ends to be 11-16.
"The final end saw the Garioch pair fight back with outstanding bowling from both, and they just failed to get a draw by scoring four shots, to finish 15-16 so no points.
"The Triples were Ian Jaffrey, Carla Banks and James McDougall, and they missed out on any points this time.
"The match was very even in early ends with score 8-8 at the seventh, but McDougall failed to score in next seven ends, finishing 8-17 for no points.
"The Fours, Sheila Reidford, Joan Western, Gary MacDonald, and Sandy McDonald, gave hope that they had overcome a disastrous semi-final being 4-4 at sixth end.
"Then the inconsistency occurred again, and they lost nine consecutive ends, scoring only a further two shots to finish 6-20."
Overall the score was 6-2 - aggregate scores Garioch shots 50 - West Lothian 71.
President Derek MacKay of Garioch said “The Club players can be proud of their outstanding performances, defeating three teams before the semi-final, and their play in both finals matches.
"A great way to finish a season."
The Semi-final was exciting right to the finish.
It was the last bowl, of the last match, that decided the finalist, and James McDougall took that shot to make the score 10-10, and the deciding point.
Garioch had beaten Ardrossan 5-3 on points
Jason Banks, Garioch’s World under 25 champion, drew well from the start, and was 12-4 up at the ninth and went on to win 21-11.
The Garioch Pairs were 12-4 up at ninth , but then lost 2,2,1 shots, then recovered to score 2,2,2 shots at 11,12 and 13th ends, before getting back into gear to win19-12.
The Fours had a disastrous start, never recovered, and got beat 8-27, only winning three ends.
To reach the semi-finals Garioch won all three matches away from Home.
The scalps were Dundee 6-2 (at Stonehaven), Stonehaven 6-2 (at Buchan) and Perth 5-3 (at Arbroath)
The only other recorded season when the Club reached the semi-final of the Team Championship ( known as the Top Ten then) was in 1994, when Garioch lost to Coatbridge by two shots, with the score 4-4 points.
