Garioch bowlers compete in Scottish and international qualifiers
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Garioch Indoor Bowling Club had three players in qualifier tournaments for Scottish and World places, writes Mike Barron.
Lee Collins took part in a qualifier for the first time and, despite initial nerves, played well in round two taking the match to 9-4 and 8-2.
Then came the Garioch tussle, as he met his club mate Alan Rough. The match was outstanding, as both drew well.
The score was 6-2 and 6-7 and the extra end could have gone either way, but Collins just made it. His quarter-final also went to another extra end, which he won. The score was 3-7 and 11-2.
He now had reached a semi-final at his first attempt and this after beating two former World tournament players and English ranked internationalists.
The match was televised and he did not play as well as he had in previous rounds, but still put up a credible performance, losing to another internationalist 4-9 and 6-9. It should be noted that there were 56 players in the draw.
Rough also took part for the first time. He played exceptionally well against ranked English players in the first and second round, but coming against his club mate Collins in the next round saw him lose out in that tie break.
Last year Colin Banks won one qualifier tournament in Lincoln to play in the World Championship, televised over two weeks in January 2022.
He also missed out in the Scottish International playdowns at the last 16 round this year.
He won round one well, and also had a great second round winning 8-1 and 10-1.
He was so unlucky in the last 16. He had a poor start in set one losing 2-8, but he found form to win 11-2, before losing in a tie break.
On Sunday, again 56 players were fighting for one place in the World Singles qualifier. This time it was Rough who had a good run.
He reached the semi-finals having come through four rounds. He was disappointed being so near, with one more match needed to qualify for Potters in January.
He won 7-1 and 7-6, third round 7-4 8-4, and won easily in quarter final 9-6 and 6-1.
In the semi-final against David Bolt, a World ranked player, he lost the first set 3-8, but the second could have gone either way. He needed a final draw to win the set but came up short, and the score finished 5-5.
Both Collins and Banks lost in the second round of the World Playdowns. Collins lost 5-9 and did not get his drawing form earlier in the weekend, and lost 0-9. Colin lost 5-8 and 4-8.
Speaking to Lee Collins he commented that both he and Rough had a great weekend, learning from the experience. They felt having reached respective semi-finals it was frustrating.
In the East Kilbride playdowns for places in the Scottish international championships and none of the Garioch players qualified.
Both Jason and Colin Banks failed at the third round. Jason had a nightmare going down 0-10, 1-6, while Colin, after two fine wins, lost 3-9 and 6-6.
Rough lost in the second round, after a first round which he said was amongst his best play. He won 9-0, 9-0.
Collins won his first match 7-2, 9-1, but just failed in the tie break after the first two sets 4-7 and 6-2.
