Scotland’s Fred Wyness hopes a strong north-east contingent can help the national team to success in the British Isles Short Mat Championships in Aberdeen this weekend.
Scotland take on England, Ireland and Wales at the Aberdeen Indoor Bowling Club on Saturday and Sunday with more than 200 short mat bowlers descending on the Granite City.
Wyness said: “Ireland have won the event for the last few years but we revamped the Scotland set-up and we went very close to winning in Wales last year.
“There is a strong nucleus of north-east bowlers, including Sandy MacDonald who is our top-ranked player in the world. He has been doing very well in the world tour events.
“We have around 15 players in the team from the north-east of Scotland.
“Ireland will be our stiffest competition but we are confident we can beat Wales and England.
“It must be at least 20 years since Scotland won the event but I think we have a very good chance of doing well on home soil.”
Wyness, who at 62 is one of the older members of the Scotland team, added: “The team seems to be getting younger every year. We have a few juniors who have broken through into the first team and some of them are only 18.
“There are also a few players who are older than me. It is a sport that appeals to people of all age groups.”
