They were cloaked together in the Saltire in Melbourne, united in glory as gold medal winners in the men's pairs in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In bowls, a sleeping giant of a game in Scotland, it doesn't get much better than that.

Alex Marshall, who also won goldin Manchester in 2002, and Paul Foster, are still right up there at the top. Marshall, the five-time world indoor champion and holder, is world No.1, while Foster, three-time world champion, is No.5.

In these days of lean pickings for Scotland on the world sport scene in general, you would think that players who bring success like that would be national treasures. Yet, as things stand, neither will be in New Delhi to defend their gold medals in the 2010 Games.

Marshall is holding out for compensation for unpaid leave to take part fully in formal preparation for the Games, while Foster, who missed much of this year's outdoor season for business and personal reasons, simply wasn't selected for the 21-man elite squad from which the team will be picked.

If you add in David Gourlay, the world No.2, who is back home after a seven-year sojourn to Australia and not in the elite squad either, then you have to ask if Scotland are giving themselves the best chance ofwinning those passionately sought-after gongs.

There is a view within bowls that Marshall is acting as a mercenary. Earlier this year when the world outdoor and indoor championships were absurdly scheduled against each other, with the outdoor in New Zealand and the indoor, as usual, at the Potters resort in Norfolk, Marshall opted against representing his country Down Under and instead went for individual glory.

He came home from Potters with the £28,000 top prize while, in comparison, travelling with the team would have brought a financial reward of precisely zero.

Yet, if you compare that to the obscene riches plundered by elite world players in sports like golf and tennis, it is a pittance. Marshall has to work for a living in addition to playing bowls and has recently switched from part-time to full-time with his job as sales manager in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland for a bowls equipment company.

What he is asking for is not unreasonable and, while he is alone among the elite 21 in taking this stance, he believes a principle is at stake that would apply to all and draws the comparison with the lottery support received in Scotland by cycling and, in particular, by Chris Hoy.

Marshall has been told he would be expected to join the squad in pre-Games preparatory trips to India, Malaysia, Tenerife and Cyprus in addition to the Atlantic Rim Games in South Africa next year. He has asked the Scottish Bowling Association about compensation but has been told no such funding is available. "The squad might be away for something like three months in total," said Marshall, who is allowed leave for World Bowls Tour events like last week's Scottish International Open at Perth and the world championships, as well as the Commonwealth Games themselves.

"At the end of the day, if they want the best bowlers to represent their country I think they have to compensate them some way, maybe not a full wage but an allowance."

Foster, meanwhile, runs a taxi business in Troon, and curtailed his bowls this year while he took on a new partner in a summer when he was also married. Both matters, quite reasonably, took priority over bowls and he missed a number of critical county matches and trials.

"I am available," he assured. "Next year I want to get back playing for the county and Scotland outdoors, but the elite squad has been picked and I'm not in it. I'm extremely disappointed they haven't seen my situation."

Marshall, 41, Foster, 35, and Gourlay, 42, and who, incidentally, is making no noises about this matter at all, are no spring chickens but they are far from past their sell-by dates in a game which septuagenarian Willie Wood has shown can be played at the highest level into a right old age.

If Marshall and Foster don't play, they will surely be supplanted by other good players, but the problems Marshall is facing will then be inherited by the next world No.1, if he happens to be Scottish.

Bowls, with 950 clubs in Scotland, is one of the country's biggest participation sports but, founded on homespun principles of thrift, the idea of bowlers making a decent living out of playing the game is alien to many. With Glasgow due to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014, ideas may have to change. What better showcase could there be? Sportscotland, custodians of the lottery millions on this side of Hadrian's Wall, as recently as two years ago dismissed the Scottish Bowling Association as "not fit for purpose" amid a bizarre situation that even croquet was receiving more public funding.

Things have moved on since then, but it is time, surely, for all concerned to get round the table to ensure that maximum funding is available and ensure that any petty jealousies and politics that might exist are not hampering Scotland's medal prospects in a game at which we rule the world - for the time being at least.