Two bowlers are celebrating finishing 2025 as World Bowls Series men’s and women’s No 1.
Scotland’s Jason Banks and Australia’s Dawn Hayman have been crowned WBS ranking list champions following an action-packed year.
It’s been a busy end to 2025 with two platinum events – the inaugural World Cup staged in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the first-ever World Bowls Series Finals, held at cluBarham, New South Wales, Australia, plus the USA Open, Hong Kong International Bowls Classic, Australian Champion of Champions and Australian Championships making up the latest ranking events included in the latest update.
Around 5,000 players now feature in the ranking lists with a total of nine countries represented in the top 10 of the men’s and women’s lists.
Looking at the men’s rankings, Banks continues his tenure at top with 915 points following his phenomenal World Indoor Bowls Championships hattrick winning title spree at Potters Resorts, Norfolk, at the start of the year.
World Cup and WBS Finals bronze medallist, Australia’s Corey Wedlock moves to second place with 766. Wales’ Ross Owen, World Cup pairs gold medal winner, takes third on 690, with England’s Dominic McVittie, a gold medal winner in both mixed pairs events at the World Indoor Bowls Championship and European Championships and silver in the Hong Kong Classic pairs, taking his highest-ranking position at fourth thanks to his 687 points.
Fifth is World Bowls Series men’s champion, Ireland’s Gary Kelly, who moves into the top 10 on 647 points, with runner-up in that event and Hong Kong International Bowls Classic winner, Aiden Takarua from New Zealand sixth with 643.
Nine points adrift of him sits Australian young gun, Jack McShane, the youngest of the top 10 at 20 years of age who shot to stardom following his World Bowls Indoor Championship gold medal performance, while Scotland’s Stewart Anderson (616), England’s World Cup men’s singles victor Sam Tolchard (606) and Paul Foster MBE, Scotland (578) take eighth, ninth and tenth places.
In the women’s list, Australia’s Dawn Hayman recaptures the No 1 spot which she held earlier in the year thanks to winning the WBS Finals women’s singles taking her tally to 860 points, 131 points clear of her nearest rival, immediate past No 1 New Zealand’s Selina Goddard on 729.
Third is Malaysia’s Emma Firyana Saroji, the hero of Malaysia at the World Cup clinching singles success, while fourth is former No 1 Emily Kernick from England and Saroji’s Malaysian colleague, Alyanai Jamil is fifth.
Past No 1’s, Australian Championships women’s singles winner, Kelly McKerihen, and inaugural women’s ranking list winner Kelsey Cottrell, Australia, are sixth and seventh, with Nicole Rogers, who took home silver in the WBS Finals, eighth.
Hong Kong China get into the rankings thanks to Cheryl Chan’s World Cup and Hong Kong International Bowls Classic women’s pairs gold and silver success who sits in ninth place, 26 points ahead of Australia’s Cassandra Millerick in 10th position.
The next event on the WBS calendar is the Jarden Open in Auckland, New Zealand, December 29-30, followed in January by the Summerset National Singles and Pairs in New Zealand and the World Bowls Indoor Championships at Potters Resorts, Norfolk, UK.
ABOUT THE WBS RANKINGS
The World Bowls Series, launched in 2024, is the official year-long calendar of sanctioned events connecting to the official world rankings. It is a joint venture between World Bowls and Tier 5 Ventures. The sanctioned events occur across the globe and will feature a mixture of existing and new events.
The 2025 calendar has seen 30 sanctioned events. Each WBS event belonged to a different tier having different ranking points based on the size, location, and stature it presents for the sport.
The purpose of WBS is to build the profile and brand of bowls, showcase the best players in the game and increase their earnings potential, accelerate the legitimacy of the sport on the global stage and launch world rankings that will help create clarity and interest in the sport of bowls.
There have so far been four men’s No 1 ranked players – Aron Sherriff (Australia), Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple (Malaysia), Stewart Anderson and Jason Banks for Scotland, while having enjoyed kudos as women’s No 1’s are Kelsey Cottrell (Australia), Kelly McKerihen (Canada), Nor Farah Ain Abdullah (Malaysia), Emily Kernick (England), Dawn Hayman (Australia) and Selina Goddard (New Zealand).
See World Bowls Series website www.worldbowlsseries.com for more information.
For more information regarding the World Bowls Series, contact: Neil Dalrymple, CEO, World Bowls, ceo@worldbowls.com
Media release compiled by Ceris Hewlings, World Bowls media officer, ceris.hewlings@keypublishing.com
