In a week in which she will bid to become the first woman to successfully defend the Scottish ladies' singles title, Lorna Smith honed her competitive edge yesterday by winning her opening match in the over-55s event at the National Bowls Championships held at Ayr's Northfield.

As one of four women who will challenge for both titles, along with Isobel Lang of Elgin, Anna Anderson of Bainfield and Herald Sport's regular bowls correspondent Anne Dunwoodie, her dual involvement represents both a potential advantage and disadvantage, providing additional time on the greens, but also upping the workload.

Yesterday's victory in the first round of the ladies' seniors – after a close tussle with Margaret Gray from Dundee's Strathmartine club, coming through 21-17 after trailing 9-3 early on – ensures more of both.

It is even feasible that she could be in action on every day of the championships, an outcome which would surely cause some discomfort among the Bowls Scotland hierarchy.

Smith won this title last year just after she had been told she was to miss out on the national team for the world championships, and she expressed her disappointment both with outspoken comments about the decision and by withdrawing from Scotland's elite squad.

At the time few, if any, involved in bowls would have questioned the motives of David Gourlay, the Scotland national coach, and that continues to be the case, such is the depth of respect he commands across the sport. He is in danger, though, of being undermined by the way other administrators have handled the situation. The impression is that the perceived mistreatment of the Seychelles-born, former South African national champion who is married to the chief executive of World Bowls, has become personal.

This was exacerbated when, after the Linlithgow bowler claimed the British Isles singles title in the middle of last month, no report appeared on their website, prompting a fellow West Lothian bowler to complain that Smith was being ignored. He asserted that he and others had asked the organisation why that was the case and had received no reply, but a Bowls Scotland spokesman claimed yesterday that cock-up rather than conspiracy was to blame.

"An article appeared on Bowls Scotland's website and social media platforms on 1 July about Lorna's success at the British Isles Championship and her participation in the forthcoming National Championships. Lorna was the only player we reported on from this event and the report included our interview with her," he said.

"As far as we are aware we received correspondence from only one person asking why Lorna's success hadn't been reported on and we replied to him via email within 24 hours." Maybe so, but in spite of that oversight it is an issue that is beginning to attract wider attention and David Rhys Jones, one of the best-known commentators on the sport, examined the matter in detail in the latest of his Without Bias columns published this week in the Bowls International magazine.

He quotes Smith as saying: "I felt that, whilst I was accepted – even valued – as part of the larger Scottish team, I would never be 'Scottish' enough to be part of the five-or-six-player inner circle that represents the country at World Bowls or the Commonwealth Games.

"I love Scotland and playing bowls here. It was a highlight of my career to win the Scottish singles at Ayr last year and I'm glad to say I've qualified to defend my title this year."

Whether deliberate or otherwise, the insinuation is that there is more to the omission than bowling ability. While some pique was doubtless involved when she pulled out of the elite squad, the failure of the powers that be to try to change her mind seems to have intensified that assumption.

Smith says, however, that she is open to discussing a way back. If a solution can be found it would seem to be of mutual benefit in a week that marks a year to go until Glasgow 2014, especially when the respective records of Scotland and Mrs Smith at Commonwealth Games are taken into account.

Those who feel she is not a team player might take note of the fact that she has twice won gold medals for South Africa in the fours at the Commonwealth Games.

Even more remarkable, however, is that in the two decades since South Africa returned to the fold after the boycott years, she has won a total of four medals: bronzes in the singles at Manchester (2002) and Melbourne (2006) following those golds at Victoria (1994) and Kuala Lumpur (1998), during which time Scotland's women have accrued a total of two gold medals, a silver and a bronze.

She was not eligible to compete for Scotland at the 2010 Games in New Delhi where Scotland suffered the indignity of failing to pick up any medals in either the men's or women's competitions.

Clearly there have been difficulties in assimilating her into the Scottish scene and Gourlay was fully vindicated for his decision last year when they won gold in the fours and bronzes in the triples and pairs at the World Championships in alien Adelaide conditions.

It was a personal triumph for the head coach in his first major campaign, but with so much at stake the valid question being raised is whether the national women's team can afford to overlook arguably the country's best individual player.

Feelings have run high with vitriolic exchanges on social media merely fanning the flames and Rhys Jones adds that Smith believes "there has been some sort of campaign to blacken her name".

He further quotes her as saying: "If I have done something wrong, I would like someone to tell me, so we can talk about it and I can put my side of the case."

One way or another, it would seem that too much of the wrong kind of talking has been taking place, as this issue has festered while Smith has simply continued to get her message across where it matters most, on the field of play.

Should Smith add further honours this week to her already sparkling bowls CV, her case for selection will become ever harder to ignore.