AFTER a heavy two-week schedule and three games daily on the tricky surfaces at Christchurch in the Quadrennial World Outdoor Bowls Championships, Scotland will return home today with one silver and four bronze medals from the eight that they contested.

From the first week of action, 26-year-old Lesley Doig from Strathmiglo in Fife, who was making her debut at this level, came of age when a magnificent finish saw her take a succession of scalps to top her group and go directly into the semi-finals where she was guaranteed a medal.

She then overcame Commonwealth singles gold medallist Jo Edwards and returns with a silver after losing to a wonder bowl from defending champion Karen Murphy from Australia.

The scoreline stood at 17-13, but with her last delivery, Murphy trailed the jack the necessary distance to clinch the title with a full count of four shots.

Paul Foster and Alex Marshall won pairs bronze. Four years ago in Adelaide they won gold, but lost their grip on the title, going down to the eventual winners Brett Wilkie and Aaron Wilson from Australia in the semi-finals 17-11.

The Scots also qualified for the knock-out stages in the men’s triples and women’s fours, but were beaten by Australia in both quarter-finals.

In week two, the Scots once again qualified in all four disciplines for the knockout stages and eventually wrapped up the week with bronze in the men’s singles and fours and women’s pairs after all lost in the semi-finals.

Commonwealth Games singles holder Darren Burnett was bitterly disappointed to lose out in the singles semis 21-20 to the man he beat to that gold medal in Glasgow, Canadian Ryan Bester. Bester also lost in the gold medal showdown of this event four years ago in Adeliade and in the title decider he was once again relegated to the bridesmaid’s role when he lost 21-17 to the host nations Shannon McIlroy.

The other bronze medals went to Lesley Doig and Cockenzie & Port Seton’s Lauren Baillie. They went down in their semi-final clash to the unbeaten Welsh duo Laura Daniels and Jess Sims, who, in the title decider, led all the way but had to hold off a determined fightback to beat Kiwis Angela Boyd and Jo Edwards to scoop gold 16-15.

Golden boys Alex Marshall and Paul Foster claimed their second bronze of the event. Along with Midlothian’s Ronnie Duncan and Blackwood’s Iain McLean they once again went down to the Aussies in the fours semi-finals 20-3. New Zealand’s turned in an awesome display to take gold, leaving Australia with silver.

Although there were no gold medals, the Scotland can be proud of the fact that they attained the necessary selection criteria for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Australian Gold Coast after Elite squad coach David Gourlay had set a target at these Championships of four medals and a minimum sixth place finish in all disciplines.

New Zealand clinched the Leonard Trophy as the best performed men’s team while Australia’s three gold medal finish secured the Taylor Bowls Trophy for the women’s.

JACK HIGH INSURANCE NATIONAL INDOOR BOWLS LEAGUE

(ROUND 7)

With just three rounds of matches remaining before the line up is decided for the Premier Division final at Turriff on February 25, Falkirk and East Lothian will go into the festive break as the leaders both Premier sections of the Jack High Insurance National Indoor Bowls League after Round 7, thanks to narrow defeats for their nearest rivals Blantyre and Ardrossan.

In Section A, defending champions Blantyre, who have led the standings since round 1, finished ahead on three of their four rinks but were agonisingly pipped at the death by one shot for the second time this season, missing out 81-80 to Bainfield, while Falkirk staged a grandstand finish to upstage Midlothian 73-67 and that vital win gave them the all-important two points that saw them go top of the table, two points clear of Blantyre.

Bainfield move up to third place and stay in the mix for a place at Turriff with eight points.

After their 29-shot defeat from Ardrossan last week, East Lothian got back on the winning track and wrapped up their result with three winning and one defeated rink 78-59 in their match at Aberdeen while Ardrossan weren’t so fortunate and suffered the narrowest of defeats 73-69 from bottom of the section Balbardie, who were notching up only their second win of the season.

Lanarkshire are making a late charge for a place in that Premiership title decider and courtesy of their 87-61 win over last year’s defending champions Paisley that leaves them just two points behind the leaders and title on eight points with Ardrossan, but 42 shots off the pace.

West Lothian are the only unbeaten team across the board and continue to dominate the North Section of Division 1 and got home 70-76 ahead of Abbeyview. That left them four points ahead of the chasing pack with Elgin their nearest rivals with eight points.

In the South group, Cumbernauld won their table-topping clash with Stirling 88-81 and take a two-point lead, with Coatbridge joining Stirling two points behind the leaders where 12 shots is the difference.

In Division 2, it will be an interesting homeward push with little to separate the teams in each of the three sections. Only 1.75 of a shot separates Garioch and Fraserburgh at the top of the North section and three shots is the margin of difference between West of Scotland and Dumbarton in the West. Perth are one point clear of Tweedbank in the East Section and four ahead of East Fife.

The eighth round will continue on January 14.