Bowls: Bigs guns target Tait glory as event reaches quarters

Richard CORSIE and Willie Paul are just two famous bowlers who failed to etch their names on the Tait Trophy, the hottest individual prize challenged for by newly-crowned club champions in the Edinburgh & Leith Bowling Association.

The climax to the 2010 event - sponsored for the first time by Alpha Trophies of Ferry Road - is fast approaching with the quarter-final action at Craigentinny tonight.

The head-to-heads feature Ally McKenna (Seafield) against Russell Wilson (Juniper Green), Colin Mitchell (Carrick Knowe) v Norman Chalmers (Summerside), David Lees (Balerno) v Robert Donaldson (Parkside), and Tam Headspeath (Beechwood) v David McGill (Braid).

Mitchell and McGill are Tait Trophy legends - the prize was donated by William Tait of Lutton Place and first played for in 1888 - with five titles each amongst many other achievements in their careers.

But they will be challenged by champions of solid reputation in the shape of Wilson, Lees, Donaldson, and Headspeath, who are all proven achievers beyond their own club arena.

Chalmers is excluded from that bracket because he brings the threat of a dark horse to a major event that is mostly, but not always, won by a prominent figure in the sport.

Balerno champion David Lees is an interesting challenger in that the 74-year old contested the 1972 final under the Sighthill banner and was agonisingly pipped 21-20 by Jimmy Kerr of Seafield.

Lees was a player of top-class abilities back then, winning the championship at Sighthill in 1969/72/83 and reached a final of the District 12 Singles. He was capped for Scotland before going on to join Balerno and now has two of their championship titles to his credit.

His opponent tonight is 35-year-old Donaldson, who won the national junior singles title in 1998. He played his first Tait last season and reached the final.

Wilson of Juniper Green is the youngest challenger left standing and the 23-year old is bidding to complete a unique stepping stone of success having last season won the James Fleming Trophy, which is the Under 25 Singles event of E&L.

McKenna, 53, is a Leith Links Open Singles champion from the era of the once popular Edinburgh Trades Holiday Tournaments while his latest championship success at Seafield is a record-extending tenth.

Headpseath became a stalwart figure of the E&L Hamilton Trophy Team for some years and was part of the memorable title winning success of 2001. Now 59, he has won the championship title at Beechwood six times.