STEWART ANDERSON is not given to superfluous displays of emotion.

After all, it is not behaviour befitting a buttoned-up bowler from Cumnock. Yet ask him about the prospect of representing Scotland at a home Commonwealth Games and the facade falters momentarily. "It would get me deep, deep down . . . I don't think words could describe how I'd feel," he says, gazing out of the window at the pristine Kelvingrove greens where the event will be held next summer.

A few minutes earlier, the 28-year-old had picked his way through the crowds, sooking on a bottle of fizzy juice to slake his thirst after his second game on the opening day of the 8 Nations Commonwealth Invitational Championships. Few of those milling around the Glasgow venue appeared to recognise the world champion in their midst; in fact, one bemused couple asked him to explain the rules during a game, the commotion causing them to make a brief diversion as they wandered down Argyle Street.

Were it not for his Scotland shirt, it would be difficult to distinguish Anderson as a competitor yet there is every chance the Ayrshireman will be one of the five men that head coach David Gourlay selects for next July. The 14 male members of the elite squad are playing for five places, with the group being whittled down in October. As he spoke earlier this week, Anderson mistakenly expected that initial cull to take place this weekend but, even if it had, his efforts would have stood him in good stead; not content with recording two wins to meet the stringent selection criteria, he and Darren Burnett overcame Australia 12-11 in yesterday's pairs final.

That followed another splendid showing at Kelvingrove in the 4 Nations test event earlier in the summer, taking gold in both the singles and triples in his first outing with the outdoor team after being enticed from the indoor circuit by Gourlay following his success in last year's World Championship. That move has, predictably, caused some disquiet but the sniping subsides with every win Anderson records. "You can't keep everyone happy," he says. "But Davie's the manager, he's picked me and all I can do is make sure I keep meeting the criteria."

Such phlegmatism is perhaps also the product of his domestic difficulties. It was only earlier this year - a few months before Gourlay's approach - that Anderson returned from a three-year exile in Wales after splitting from his partner. Consequently, he is separated from his two-year-old daughter Emma-Jane. "I travel down every few weeks but it's been a really tough year," he says. "We kind of went our separate ways and it's difficult but that's life, I suppose. My family come first but bowls has given me something to focus on this year and Davie has been great, giving me time to go down to Wales, and when I'm on the green I can put it to the back of my mind and escape everything else for as long as it takes to play the game."

Bowls has long been a refuge for Anderson. He first experienced the game at the age of 13, when his grandparents took him along to the local club in Cumnock, and it was the arena to which he retreated a couple of years later when hopes of a football career were terminated by a knee problem. A standout striker at boys' club level, he was a team-mate of Alan Hutton, the Scotland internationalist, and scouted by Blackburn Rovers before injury forced him to revise his dreams.

It was at that point that bowls metamorphosed from a pastime to a passion. Always considered an indoor expert, Anderson's top-16 ranking and subsequent World Championship success ensured his eligibility for the elite squad assembled for Glasgow and, although recalibrating his focus to the outdoor game might be considered a gamble, it is one that he insists is worth taking. "If someone gives you a chance to go to a Commonwealth Games, you've got to take it," he says. "Obviously I want to defend my [world indoor] title and I'd definitely play but if I'm picked for next summer, that will eclipse it.

"Every time you come up you see the posters and the venue here and you get goosepimples. You just look at the names who have won Commonwealth medals: Willie Wood, Alex Marshall and Paul Foster have all been there and I look up to these guys and hope that, one day, I'm good enough to win a gold medal, too. There will be a lot of pressure on us and we'll be expected to get a handful of golds but the way the qualifying works means we should get used to that pressure and playing in an atmosphere like this in your home country brings the best out of you.The opening ceremony is the day of my birthday but the only shame is it's at Parkhead because I'm a Rangers man . . ."

Some consolation can be derived from the fact Anderson may not be the only member of his family marching round Celtic Park. Younger brother Steven moved across the Irish Sea with the boys' mother when she remarried 13 years ago and will almost certainly be part of the Northern Ireland team in Glasgow. "He beat me here at the 4 Nations so I owe him one," Anderson growled. "We exchange texts every now and again winding each other up but it's a dream come true for the family and we'll support each other . . . as long as he's not playing Scotland."