It’s been an action-packed day one at the inaugural World Bowls Series (WBS) Finals.
Staged at cluBarham, New South Wales, Australia, a field full of world champions, Commonwealth Games and World Cup medallists, Australian Open winners, former WBS No 1s and Hall of Fame inductees are competing to become history-makers in the first ever WBS Finals winners.
Twenty-four players from eight nations – Australia, England, Malaysia, New Zealand, Wales, Canada, Ireland and Hong Kong China are competing in the three-day singles spectacular with every player – 12 men and 12 women – having earned their place through WBS rankings from the 30 sanctioned events or major championship performances this season.
A milestone for our sport, the WBS Finals has been years in the planning.
There’s a stellar competitor list, the best of the best and the stakes are high.
A total of $29,000 in prize money is up for grabs, plus platinum WBS ranking points, in addition to having the kudos of being the first ever winner of the men’s and women’s singles events.
Five sessions of play on the two synthetic dome covered greens at the bowls mecca that is cluBarham – host venue of World Bowls’ champion of champions in September – have now been completed.
Players are seeded into two sections of six players, with the top two place getters from each section progressing to the semi-finals – yes, it’s a tough schedule where every game in sectional play matters.
In both men’s and women’s disciplines, the winners of Section 1 will face the runner-up in Section 2 and winner of Section 2 will take on the second placed finisher in Section 1.
Format is two sets of seven ends with a three-end tie break if sets won are tied with all shots counting.
A number of players have recorded 100 per cent records on the opening day.
In the sections which have seen three games played, the host nation’s Cohen Litfin and Dawn Hayman and Canada’s Kelly McKerihen are the standout performers all having won three out of three matches to give them a maximum of nine points going into the second day.
For those with two games under their belts, it’s Lee Schraner (Australia), Aiden Takarua (New Zealand) and Cassandra Millerick (Australia) who are the ones to beat with six points to their names going into day two when they have a schedule of three games to play.
Youngest competitor in the men’s field is 20-year-old Jack McShane, while in the women’s it’s Olivia Cartwright, 21, both from Australia.
Special shout out to Wales’ Daniel Davies Junior who celebrated his 36th birthday on the eve of the finals commencing.
The tournament continues its sectional round-robin format tomorrow (Thursday) starting at 11 am AEDT, with the top performers advance to Friday’s semi-finals and championship deciders.
FESTIVAL OF BOWLS
The WBS Finals has been part of a real festival of bowls at cluBarham.
World Bowls has its push for the sport’s inclusion on the Olympic stage staging its third Bowls for Brisbane 2032 special broadcast feature match between Team China and a Rest of the World team.
China’s squad featured Gao Minghao, Tang Yiwei, Yu Qiaohan, Zheng Shengyan and team leader Pang Zheng, while in the Rest of the World team were Selina Goddard (New Zealand), Dawn Hayman (Australia), Ross Owen (Wales) and Jack McShane (Australia).
The ROW took the honours in the first set, with Team China clinching the second to force a tiebreak and that went right to the wire with the ROW winning on a thrilling tie-breaker end, thanks to a cracking shot by skip Ross Owen with his last bowl of the game.
MVP was Yu Qiaohan.
There’s also been a Pro-Am night mixing Club Barham members with the WBS competitors. The winners were Stef Branfield (England), Ross Owen (Wales) and Mark Quor (Club Barham) with runners-up Izzat Shameer Dzukeple (Malaysia), Olivia Cartwright (Australia) and Spike Laursen (Club Barham), plus a schools clinic, open coaching clinic with commentator Barrie Lester and schools shootout to come on finals day.
FURTHER INFORMATION
How to watch: FOX Sports (Australia) and World Bowls TV (international)
Draws and results: https://tinyurl.com/2r4tmmvn
Competitors: https://tinyurl.com/2p8y5rke
WBS rankings: https://worldbowlsseries.com/ranking/
Finals day tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/world-bowls-series-grand-final-2025/tickets
Caption: Canada’s Kelly McKerihen is one of six players out of 24 with unblemished records on day one of the World Bowls Series Finals. She’s seen on the mat with Australia’s Olivia Cartwright, youngest female competitor, behind.
Report compiled by Ceris Hewlings, World Bowls media officer, ceris.hewlings@keypublishing.com
