Veteran Thomson cruises to victory

BOWLS: Anglo Scot Andy Thomson turned in a sizzling performance at Potters Leisure Resort yesterday to lift the Fred Olsen Cruise Lines World indoor singles crown and a record £40,000 first prize.

Aged 56, he is the oldest player on the WBT Rankings and after celebrating a 16-year gap since back-to back wins in the 1990s he now moves up to provisional fourth with only one ranking tournament left to play.

In yesterday’s title decider against number 13 seed Jason Greenslade from Pontypridd, who was making his first appearance in a world singles, Thomson started strongly and dropped only two ends of the best of two sets of 11.

Greenslade improved in the second, however Thomson struck gold with a treble and full house and although the scoreline showed 10-9, the title was out of sight long before the end.

Dedicating his win to his father Andy, who is in hospital, Thomson said: “You can only hope you play well in any final and I was so happy that I did. I was really pumped up because I wanted this for my dad.”