Published: Wednesday, 24th June, 2009 1:35pm

County bowlers face the Auld Enemy

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A TRIO of bowlers from Clackmannan have been selected to play for Scotland at a national competition in Northern Ireland.

Joe Young, Mark McCallum and John Bell will take on England in the opening triples match of the BIBC Championship held in Belmont today (Thursday).

The trio are representing Scotland after taking the Scottish triples title at the national championships held in Ayr last year.

'We played Polmaise boys in the final last year,' Joe (60) said. 'Mark and John had played some of them before in the Hamilton Trophy and so they knew how they played through the rinks.'

When Joe, Mark and John take to the green this morning it will be the first time that the Clackmannan bowlers have represented their country in competition.

Joe, who has been bowling for over 30 years (since 1971), spoke to the Advertiser Sport before he left for the competition.

He said, 'I"m very nervous. I think the three of us are but Mark and John are making out they aren"t.

'It"s the highlight of our careers, definitely, however we would have rather played England in the final. It"s just going to be: turn up, shake hands and let"s go.'

While the bowlers have not been able to study the competition, Joe is confident that they will make it through the opening stages.

He also has nothing but praise for his partners who already have a 'lot of medals behind them'.

He said, 'Mark and John are good lads that I"m playing with.

'Their minds are really set on winning this.

'I hope that if we do do well the Scottish selector is there and they will take it on board. Mark and John are well worth a trial fro Scotland irrespective of what happens.

'I expect we will win. The opposition will have to be very good to beat us.'

Joe expects a large local crowd to be cheering them on when they take on the Auld Enemy.

'The club is overjoyed for us,' he went on. 'They have been really supportive and have done a lot of background work, such as getting a sponsor. They"ve been truely amazing.'

'There"s a lot of people who are heading out there to support us.

'They went away on Tuesday and I"ve been getting text messages left, right and centre from them.'

He joked, 'They will do the ground work for us.'

While their focus is on the British championships at the moment, they also have an eye on the national competition in Northfield, Ayr.

They will represent the county (District 6) in the finals on 29 July.

However, the trio will not be defending their triples title but have teamed up with J McCallum for the rinks.

It will be only Joe"s second time at the national competition representing Clackmannanshire and Kinross.

Joe also pointed out Kevin Wallace, who is representing the county at junior level in the Ayr competition, as one to watch for the future.

'I hope that he"s spotted by the selectors,' he went on. 'He"s only 18 but really good.'