Medal winners from the World Bowls Indoor Bowls Championship (WBIC) last month, staged in Aberdeen, Scotland, have made their mark on the latest World Bowls Series rankings lists.
Eight countries now have representatives across the top 12 in the men’s and women’s lists – Australia, England, Scotland, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland and Wales.
WBIC men’s singles winner, 19-year-old Jack McShane (Australia) moves up one place into second behind Scotland’s triple World Bowls Tour winning champion Jason Banks, who continues to lead the men’s field on 935 points, 13 points clear of McShane, while double medallist at the Scottish hosted event – Wales’ Ross Owen who clinched bronze in the singles and silver in the mixed pairs jumps 19 places into fourth on 628. Mixed pairs gold medallist England’s Dominic McVittie however is the biggest climber – leaping from a previous 104 ranking to eighth following his success with Emily Kernick.
A total of 403 points separates the top 12 players in the men’s list, with Australia has five representatives – McShane, inaugural No 1 Aron Sherriff, Corey Wedlock, Joseph Clarke and Cohen Litfin, Scotland has four (Banks, Stewart Anderson, Darren Gualtieri and Iain McLean), and Wales, South Africa and England one apiece – Owen, South Africa’s African States Tournament winner Wayne Roberts and McVittie respectively.
The women’s ranking list is a tighter battle – there’s just 183 points between new leader Canada’s Kelly McKerihen on 695 points who regains the top spot she previously held following her 2024 stellar year and No 12 England’s Amy Pharaoh on 512.
The first WBS female No 1, Aussie superstar Kelsey Cottrell is second, just 25 points adrift of McKerihen, the current Hong Kong International Bowls Classic pairs holder, while Cottrell’s fellow Jackaroo Kristina Krstic is third with 622. World Bowls Indoor Championship singles bronze medallist New Zealand’s Tayla Bruce’s success sees her rejoin the top 12, with the aforementioned mixed pairs champion, England’s Emily Kernick, rising from 80th place to sixth, just one place adrift of her national teammate Nicole Rogers, a gold medal winner at the 2024 European Championships.
Rogers’ fellow England teammates and medallists at that event – gold medal pairs partner Harriet Stevens and singles champion Amy Pharaoh lie in 11th and 12th.
Australia have five players listed – Cottrell, Krstic, Chloe Stewart, Dawn Hayman and Cassandra Millerick, England four (Rogers, Kernick, Stevens and Pharaoh) with New Zealand (Bruce), Canada (McKerihen) and Switzerland (Australia Open women’s singles defending champion Laura Butler) the other countries in the mix.
Players will be keenly following the rankings this season with the World Bowls Series finals, to be held from December 3 – 5, 2025 in Australia, for the 12 top ranked women and men respectively. The deadline to determine who will feature in these inaugural finals will be as at October 31, 2025.
Events included in the latest ranking list include the World Bowls Indoor Championship and the Asian Lawn Bowls Championships.
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 sees 30 sanctioned events. Each WBS event will belong 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 – Sherriff (Australia), Izzat Shameer Dzukelple (Malaysia), Anderson and Banks for Scotland, while holding the kudos as women’s No 1’s are Cottrell (Australia), McKerihen (Canada) and Nor Farah Ain Abdullah (Malaysia).
The next ranking list will include the South Africa National Championships, the Australian Open and the British Bowls Championships.
See World Bowls Series website for more information.
Male rankings: https://worldbowlsseries.com/male-rankings/
Female Rankings: https://worldbowlsseries.com/female-rankings/
For more information regarding the World Bowls Series, contact: Neil Dalrymple, CEO, World Bowls, ceo@worldbowls.com
Ceris Hewlings, World Bowls media officer