20th January 2010
Howard Harding

A supremely confident performance by Scottish junior Stewart Anderson in today's (Tuesday) third round of the Potters Holidays World Indoor Singles Championship in Norfolk led to the shock exit of fellow countryman Alex Marshall, the record five times world champion, after a dramatic encounter which went to the wire.

"I've never played as well as that before - and lost," said Marshall, who picked up his eighth World Bowls Tour title at Potters Leisure Resort only two days earlier after winning the mixed pairs trophy with compatriot Carol Ashby.

After dropping the first set, Anderson battled back to force a tie-break.  Down in the deciding end, 24-year-old from Ayrshire played a sensational shot to leave two bowls within an inch of the jack to clinch a remarkable 11-7, 4-8, 2-1 victory.

"After delivering that bowl, Alex told me I'd played a shot that's virtually impossible on this rink," said Anderson, the reigning world junior champion.

"It was certainly the hardest match of my career, by far.  I can't believe it - I'm shaking like a leaf."

Marshall was full of praise for his young fellow countryman: "I think I would have beaten anybody else today.   Stewart was just relentless. 

"I was happy with the way I played.  I thought I'd done enough.

"If he continues to play like this, he'll take some stopping."

Marshall, in his third season as world number one, could have chosen to kill the last end of the tie-break, and forced it to be replayed.

"With all that was going on towards the end of the game, I completely forgot that I could nominate to kill the end.  If I had, I would definitely have done it," concluded Marshall.

Irishman Jonathan Ross also secured a place in the quarter-finals when he beat Canadian Hirendra Bhartu 9-5, 8-3. 

After making the event's last eight for the first time since 2004, Ross was asked if he was happy with the extra ranking points he could look forward to:  "I'd rather have the title than the points," said the 16th seed from Belfast.

There were upsets in the two quarter-final games in the Ladies World Matchplay Championship.  In the morning, England's Sarah Seymour - a semi-finalist last year from Ely - went down 11-7, 4-8, 2-1 to US event debutante Dee McSparran, from California.

The last game of the day saw Scotland's former Sussex-based Carol Ashby, winner of the title in 2003 and 2004 and a semi-finalist in all but one year since 2003, crash out 10-1, 10-5 to Welsh newcomer Kerry Packwood, the 23-year-old world junior champion.