SCOTLAND'S bowlers failed by an agonising single shot to take the

junior home international title when they finished locked on four points

with Wales, only for the Welsh to take the title by courtesy of their

shots differential of plus 19 against the Scots' plus 18.

And the Scots were left to regret a disappointing performance on

Saturday afternoon when they went down by 25 shots to Ireland, Ireland's

only success of the weekend.

All four sides went into yesterday morning's concluding matches with

one win and one defeat from Saturday's efforts -- Scotland had beaten

title holders Wales by 130-100 as well as going down to Ireland -- and

Scotland's victory by 119-106 over England had established them as

favorites.

Wales then required a 48 shot win over Ireland and, disappointingly

for the Scots, that was exactly how things turned out when they won

141-93.

Yet things had looked good for Scotland when they began their

programme on Saturday morning with a 130-100 win over titleholders

Wales. Results:

Scotland 130, Wales 100 (P Conlan 17, B Evans 12; A Forrest 27, D

Kingdon 17; S Scott 18, R Wason 23; W Watson 19, A Price 17; C McNeil

22, B Powell 16; C Mitchell 27, E Thomas 15).

England 145, Ireland 90 (L Miller 25, C McHugh 19; N Bantock 21, G

McElroy 17; R Moses 27, K Taylor 12; N Jones 34, C Dennison 15; W

Garnett 17, G Thompson 15; D Hayne 21, A Hughes 12).

Ireland 126, Scotland 101 (McHugh 25, Conlan 10; McElroy 25, Forrest

18; Taylor 27, Scott 14; Dennison 19, Watson 17; Thompson 7, McNeil 26;

Hughes 23, Mitchell 16).

Wales 119, England 118 (Powell 22, Garnett 12; Thomas 18, Hayne 16;

Evans 22, Miller 25; Kingdon 18, Bantock 16; Wasson 22, Moses 18; Price

17, Jones 31).

Scotland 119, England 106 (Scott 20, Moses 13; Watson 5, Jones 44;

McNeil 27, Garnett 7; Mitchell 22, Hayne 9; Conlan 15, Miller 20;

Forrest 30, Bantock 13).

Wales 141, Ireland 93 (Wasson 24, Taylor 20; Price 33, Dennison 9;

Powell 30, Thompson 14; Thomas 21, Hughes 12; Evans 14, McHugh 18;

Kingdon 19, McElroy 20).

* WHILE Scotland's men's side were coming agonisingly close to taking

their junior title, there were no such worries for the women's side, who

retained their title in Portrush when they coasted to three convincing

victories.

The Scots began their title defence with an 80-60 win over Wales, went

on to beat England 97-74, and then rounded things off in style yesterday

when they crushed Ireland 111-45. Results:

Scotland 80, Wales 60 (H Rankin 30, N Daniel 7; E McKenzie 20, R

Larsen 15; S Steven 11, S Hawkins 20; A Brown 19, A Butten 18).

England 94, Ireland 68 (L Whitehead 25, D McNally 17; W Betambeau 18,

E Hastings 19; L Francis 23, P Smyth 11; K Hawes 28, L McKee 21).

Scotland 97, England 74 (Steven 20, Francis 20; McKenzie 20, Betambeau

23; Rankin 25, Hawes 22; Brown 32, Whitehead 9).

Wales 92, Ireland 82 (Daniel 15, Hastings 31; Larsen 20, McNally 20;

Butten 31, McKee 16; Hawkins 26, Smyth 15).

England 84, Wales 61 (Whitehead 28, Daniel 13; Hawes 24, Hawkins 8;

Francis 10, Butten 24; Betambeau 22, Larsen 16).

Scotland 111, Ireland 45 (Rankin 29, Hastings 8; McKenzie 19, McKee

12;

Steven 34, McNally 6; Brown 29, Smyth 19).

* FORMER Scottish outdoor champions George Sneddon and David McGill

claimed the two qualifying places from the West Lothian playdowns in the

Scottish Indoor Players Association championship while past junior

outdoor champion Willie Killens claimed one of the four qualifying

places at East Kilbride.

Results at West Lothian:

First round -- G Sneddon (West Lothian) beat G Kerr (Headwell) 7-3,

7-5; S Davidson (Buchan) w.o. T Laidlaw (Teviotdale) scr.; J Colvin

(West Lothian) beat W Taylor (Perth) 7-1, 1-7, 7-3; J Summers

(Edinburgh) beat D McCormick (West Lothian) 1-7, 7-2, 7-5; J Mallon

(West Lothian) beat P Ball (West Lothian) 7-2, 7-1; M Stenhouse (East

Fife) beat G Knox (West Lothian) 7-3, 7-4; C Davidson (Bainfield) beat S

Sutherland (Balbardie) 6-7, 7-3, 7-6. Second round -- Sneddon beat

Davidson 7-2, 7-3; Colvin beat Summers 7-5, 0-7, 7-4; Mallon beat

Stenhouse 7-0, 7-5; D McGill (Bainfield) beat C Davidson 7-6, 7-4. Third

round -- Sneddon beat Colvin 7-3, 7-4; McGill beat Mallon 7-4, 0-7, 7-3.

At East Kilbride. Second round -- I Steele (Lanarkshire) beat J

Simpson (Lanarkshire) 7-1, 7-4; W Killens (Inverclyde) beat M Dunlop

(Ardrossan) 5-7, 7-0, 7-1; E Vorsterman (Prestwick) beat W Wotherspoon

(Inverclyde) 7-2, 7-3; J Vallance (Coatbridge) beat J M Murray (Glasgow)

7-0, 7-6; A Condy (Coatbridge) beat J Douglas (East Kilbride) 7-2, 3-7,

7-2; D Slaven (East Kilbride) beat J Jackson (East Kilbride) 7-6, 7-1.

Third round -- Killens beat Steele 7-2, 7-3; Vallance beat Vorsteman

7-6, 7-6; Slaven beat Condy 7-3, 7-0; P Canavan (Falkirk) beat D Edgar

(Auchinleck) 7-5, 3-7, 7-4.