THERE were celebrations yet again in the Stevenson household this week as junior internationalist Danny Stevenson captured the British Isles crown to add to his Scottish title from last year, writes Matt Osborne.

A 21-5 win over Daniel Ellicott (England) saw Stevenson pitted against Commonwealth gold medallist Adam McKeown (Ireland) in the British Isles final.

Stevenson trailed 7-1 to his Irish counterpart and seemed to propel himself into a scintillating performance, reeling off end after end to blow McKeown away with a hugely impressive 21-8 victory.

He returns yet again to Ayr later this month on the hunt for history as he aims to retain his Scottish title for 2023.

Meanwhile, Scotland ‘Thistle’ claimed gold in the new-look Home International series.

The revamped format saw the traditional six rinks of fours replaced by two separate squads in a top-10 format (singles, pairs, triples and fours).

Three 6-4 wins against Ireland, England and Wales secured a place in the gold medal match for Scotland Thistle.

It looked as if it would be an all-Scotland affair as Scotland Saltire waited with bated breath for the result of Wales v Ireland.

With no bowls left to play for Ireland, it looked set to be a Saltire v Thistle gold medal showdown.

With Wales holding three shots and no real danger of forcing their way into a medal match, the skip played a running bowl in a hit-and-hope fashion, only to trail the jack for a single shot and deny Scotland Saltire a place in the gold medal match.

The result meant that it would be Scotland Thistle v Ireland for gold, while Scotland Saltire and England would contest the bronze-medal match.

Thistle took control of the showpiece final from the start and ran out comfortable 9-1 winners with wins in the singles 21-11, pairs 20-13 and fours 14-9, coupled with a draw in the triples 16-16, which proved more than enough to secure Scotland gold in the new international set-up.

The team was: singles – Ian Mclean; pairs – Greg McLaughlin and Alex Marshall; triples – Darren Weir, Connor Milne and James Hogg; fours – Mark Kelsey, Andy Fuyre, Gary Prunty and Grant Logan; reserves – Darren Gualtieri and Liam McKay.

The bronze-medal match would provide the nail-biting finish normally associated with the final day of the series.

Narrow wins for England in the triples 17-14 and fours 17-15 meant that Scotland would require wins in both the pairs and singles.

The pairs provided hope with a comprehensive win 23-7, meaning that Scotland would require a win in the singles to claim the bronze medal.

Mark O’Hagan had been undefeated all week and faced off with back-to-back British Isles singles champion Ed Morris. O’Hagan led 18-15 before scoring a double to lead 20-15, but Morris showed every bit of his champion status, holding his nerve to save the game twice, the second a fortuitous run through with the match lie against.

With the match poised at 20-19, Morris lay the two shots required to claim the medal for England and celebrated moments later as O’Hagan fractionally overran his final bowl of the series to agonisingly lose 21-20.

In the ladies’ section play, Scotland Saltire got off to a great start with an 8-2 win over Wales, while Scotland Thistle claimed the maximum 10 points with a whitewash over Ireland.

Both faltered in their second fixtures, Saltire losing 6-4 against Jersey and Thistle 8-2 against England.

Both headed into the final group games with hopes of snatching a place in the medal matches. Saltire lost 7-3 against Ireland to finish third in the table and miss out on a medal opportunity, while Scotland Thistle ladies wrapped up their group section with an 8-2 win over Wales to seal a place in the bronze-medal match, ironically against Wales second side Cymru.

Wins in the triples 25-16 and the fours 22-12 for Scotland proved to be no match for Wales Cymru, who themselves claimed wins in the singles 21-8 and pairs 23-9 to win the overall match 6-4 and the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, in the East Lothian Leagues, Port Seton maintain a slender advantage at the top of Division 1 this week. A draw against Aberlady kept them ahead of EL Co-op on shot difference.

Haddington reignited their own league aspirations with an 8-0 win at home to West Barns, Prestongrange cemented their place in the top four with a 6-2 win over East Linton and Tranent picked up a vital 6-2 home win over Elphinstone.

Ormiston remain the frontrunners for an immediate return to the top flight, a 6-2 win away at Dunbar setting the pace moving into the business end of the season in Division 2. They are closely followed by Macmerry after their impressive 8-0 win away at North Berwick. Port Seton A remain firmly in the hunt for automatic promotion, a 6-2 away win at Cockburnspath seeing them third in the table.

Stenton regrettably decided to withdraw from Division 3 this week, with struggling numbers meaning that doubling up in the seniors league and evening league proved too much of a stretch. All results against Stenton become null and void.

Haddington A lead the race for promotion to Division 2 with a three-point advantage over Castlepark A and Athelstaneford. Gifford and Prestongrange B are just one victory away from forcing their name into contention at the top of the table, with upcoming games against the top two. Division 3 could take shape with an emerging three teams pulling ahead in the coming weeks.

Pathhead will have an eye firmly on promotion as Division 4 enters the closing stages. The Midlothian side sit six points clear of Ormiston A and seven points ahead of Aberlady A.

Ormiston A will be looking to close the distance as they tackle Haddington B while Pathhead enjoy their ‘free week’ fixture. Likewise, Aberlady A will be looking to do the same when they take on Gullane A.