There’s no change at the top of the latest World Bowls Series Rankings List. 

The newly published list includes the gold ranked BPL23 and New Zealand National Fours and Mixed Pairs and silver tiered South African Masters and 7 Nations Lawn Bowls Invitational in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Scotland’s Paul Foster MBE, a member of the BPL23 winning Geelong Jets team, maintains his No 1 spot in the men’s list with 774 points. He’s just eight points in front of second placed Australia’s Corey Wedlock. Third, fourth and fifth are Ross Owen from Wales, Foster’s Scottish compatriot Jason Banks and Ireland’s Gary Kelly who make up the top five. 

In the only change in the top 10, former No 1 player Malaysia’s Izzat Shameer Dzukelpe comes back into the top flight following his performance at the 7 Nations Lawn Bowls Invitational at No 6 having won the men’s singles, with Australia’s Jack McShane, Dominic McVittie from England, New Zealand’s Aiden Takarua and England’s Jamie Walker rounding off cream of the crop with 590 points. Interestingly, there’s also now only seven points between Kelly at No. 5 and McVittie who is eighth. 

In the women’s ranking list, there’s no change in the first 10 players – just a swapping of places between previous No 10 Hong Kong China’s Cheryl Chan moving to eighth and former No 1, Australia’s Kelsey Cottrell, hanging on at No 10 – her lowest place finish since the rankings began on 542 points. 

Australia’s Dawn Hayman leads the pack with 860 points, 59 points ahead of England’s Emily Kernick who is second. 

The next ranking list will include the recently completed NZ National Fours and Mixed Pairs, the Americas Region World Championships at Long Beach, California, USA, the World Bowls Tour’s final event of the 2025/26 season – the UK Open in Cambridge Chesterton, an event which has not been staged for four years, and the Victorian Open in the Latrobe Valley region, Victoria, Australia.  

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 2026 calendar has a record 38 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