Dalmuir Bowling Club member Paul Kane Jnr was delighted his hard work over the years had finally paid off after he was selected as part of Scotland’s team for the British Isles Bowls Council competition.

Kane Jnr will be one of 26 Scottish bowlers to head across to Belmont Bowling Club in Belfast, which starts on Saturday.

And the Dalmuir BC member was looking forward to getting stuck as the bowls season begins to hot up.

He said: “I was delighted to receive a trial after submitting my application, and I thought I had given a good account of myself but the strength of the trial pool was absolutely phenomenal.

“When I found out I had been selected I was over the moon, all the years of hard work have paid off and to get the chance to represent the best bowling nation in the world, alongside some of the biggest names in bowls is the stuff that dreams are made of.

“This is an extremely busy time of the season, with Scottish Championships, County and club ties as well as Andrew Hamilton Trophy games and under-25 league games at weekends, so I’ve had plenty competitive practice recently.

“I’ve also made an effort to repeat the position specific drills that were used at the trials this year when I’ve had a practice partner available, as I found that these drills require absolute concentration to achieve good results.”

Having not won the competition since 2014, the Scotland team are determined to battle it out for their chance to become the BIBC champions once again.