East Lothian hit the campaign trail for the Hamilton Trophy in the Scottish Counties Championship on Saturday May 9 when they welcome arch rivals Edinburgh & Leith to EL Co-op BC in Tranent for the opening match in the East qualifying section (2pm start).
Expectations of another successful campaign are again high but some familiar names will be missing from the side recently announced by the selectors.
Newly-crowned East Lothian indoor singles champion Willie Wood MBE is currently on international
duty for Scotland in South Africa playing in the Atlantic Rim tournament and he will miss the opening couple of matches.
The Glen brothers, Steven and Colin, have confirmed they cannot commit their services for the 2009 campaign as they are no longer members of an East Lothian bowling club but better news for the garden county selectors is the talented pairing of Craig Valentine (Port Seton) and Jamie Higgins (Tranent) are available again after a self-imposed exile.
CampaignWorld stage icon Alex 'Tattie' Marshall forms the backbone of the EL attack along with fellow skips Alister Kennedy, Struan Robertson, Steven Morgan, Derek Oliver and Craig Valentine.
Ormiston's Gary Murray will wear the captain's armband for a second successive campaign.
The full team: G Murray (Orm) capt, D Sked (W/B), C Bonner (Hadd), A Marshall MBE (Giff) skip; G Thomson (E/L), B Dunleavey (Aber), R Black (E/L), A Kennedy (W/B) skip; C Fallen (ELCO), S Johnston (Orm), Dav Oliver (C&PS), S Robertson (W/B) skip; B Bird (C/Park), J Gordon (Tra), B Young (C/Park), S Morgan (C&PS) skip; M Taylor (ELCO), R Branley (C&PS), J Higgins (Tra), Dek Oliver (C&PS) skip; J Blair (Hadd), N Cochrane (Tra), S A Thomson (C/Park), C Valentine (C&PS) skip.
