SCOTLAND'S indoor bowls selectors have dropped seven players from last

year's side in a bid to halt England's recent dominance of the home

international series.

With the exception of Scotland's last-gasp win at Hartlepool two years

ago, England have won every series since Ardrossan back in 1983 and,

frankly, this year's side looks incapable of halting the run.

The seven omitted from last year are Perth's Jim Wright, past world

champion John Watson, 69 times capped Willie McQueen, past Scottish

champion Colin Sommerville, Tweedbank's Norrie Amos, Gary Hood from the

Galleon, and Blantyre's Gerry Sullivan.

However, what is even more astounding is the demotion to the

substitutes' bench of two of the country's most experienced skips -- Jim

Boyle and David Gourlay.

Had the selectors thought they had come to the end of their

international careers then, whether one agreed with their findings or

not, that would have given some credence to their decision. But to name

them as substitutes is an admission that their form is still good enough

to be in the side and surely on experience alone, Gourlay, with 54 caps

and due to play on his home Prestwick carpet, and Boyle, with just three

fewer Scottish appearances, should have been in the starting line-up.

There are first caps for Cumbernauld's Brian Stillie, Graham Barclay

of Glasgow, Bainfield's Alan Brown, Brian McLelland from the Galleon,

and East Lothian's David Clelland, and one of the reserves,

Cumbernauld's David Miller. Alloa's Brian Rattray, also a reserve, last

made an international appearance eight years ago.

Moved to skip for the first time are 23-year-old world champion

Richard Corsie, 24-year-old Angus Blair, and 34-year-old Robert

McCulloch. It is an obvious move by the selectors to give the younger

element their chance and while there is a lot to commend such a policy a

modicum of experience invariably more than pays its way.

That is something I fear the Scots will find to their cost when the

series begins at Prestwick on Wednesday, April 4. The Scottish side is:

Rink 1 -- N McGhee (Auchinleck), F Muirhead (Bainfield), B Stillie

(Cumbernauld), A Campbell (Irvine). Rink 2 -- H Duff (Auchinleck), W

Paul (Edinburgh), J Muir (Irvine), A Blair (East Lothian). Rink 3 -- W

Galloway (Edinburgh), S Rankin (Auchinleck), A Brown (Bainfield), R

Corsie (Edinburgh). Rink 4 -- D Gourlay Jr (Prestwick), G Robertson

(East Lothian), P Laidlaw (Teviotdale), W W Wood (East Lothian). Rink 5

-- B McLelland (Galleon), J G Barclay (Glasgow), D Clelland (East

Lothian), R McCulloch (Prestwick). Rink 6 -- W Sullivan (Blantyre), I

Campbell (Lanarkshire), A Marshall (Bainfield), R Provan (Coatbridge).

Reserves -- D Miller (Cumbernauld), B Rattray (Alloa), J Boyle (West

Lothian), D Gourlay (Prestwick).

Paisley 80, Aberdeen 78 (N Dunlop 24, E Sainsbury 15; A Knowles 13, W

Jeffrey 30; H Wylie 16, E Bartlet 20; F Whyte 27, S Stott 13).