January is turning into a very busy month for bowls, with the Gravells Welsh International Open bringing down the curtain on the World Bowls Tour season, with eight former holders of the title bidding to etch their name onto the trophy again.
Following the suspension of the International Open, taking the number of ranking events down from four to three, this tournament takes on added significance with a number of players jostling for position in and around the bottom end of the top 16. The decision by the BBC to stop showing the International Open in favour of a couple more days' action at Potters meant the WBT had no choice but to leave that tournament on the backburner for financial reasons, although judging by the half-hearted way in which the World Indoor Singles was covered by the Beeb it would have made more sense to have shown a few days of the International Open and in turn leaving the full compliment of four ranking events.
Players are always commenting on how important ranking points are and with just 16 separating John Price in the provisional 14th slot to Les Gillett in 19th there is even more to play for in Swansea this year.
There has long been the belief among bowls followers that the top 16 is something of a 'closed shop' with virtually the same 16 bowlers filling the top positions every year. Taking a flick through the history books shows evidence of this. For instance, in the 2003/04 season, 13 of today's top 16 were in there, plus Price, while there 10 present of the current 16 in the 2001/02, as well a Price. So as you can see, very little changes from year to year.
But there looks to be a changing of the guard, with the likes of Steve Glasson, DARREN BURNETT, Stewart Anderson, Nick Brett, Robert Paxton, Jarrad Breen and Ben Twist all pushing their way up the rankings after Potters, to such an extent that Gillett and McMahon have been pushed out, while Jonathan Ross is clinging on to 16th spot by his fingertips.
Ross has been done no favours by the WBT for this competition as for some reason he is not in the field as a top 16 player despite being ranked 16 and also despite the absence of fellow seed Mark McMahon. Defending champion Robert Chisholm is automatically installed as No.1 seed, meaning Ross should have been at 16 after the withdrawl of McMahon, but Burnett has been promoted ahead of Ross, giving the Ulsterman a much tougher clash – against Andy Thomson – than he should have expected. And the WBT have remained silent on the matter, giving no explanation for the clear bending of the rules.
As for who I think will win this event, I have already mentioned his name – Burnett. The burly Scottish policeman is a massive 20-1 with Ladbrokes to win the title and that looks too big to avoid.
He may only be ranked 17 in the world – provisionally 15 – but he is without doubt one of the best bowlers on the Tour and a man who is very hard to beat. After thrashing Gillett in the second round of the World Indoor Singles, he was basically robbed of victory by Paul Foster in the third round, with the three-time world champion producing big bowls at the end of each set to win a contest in which Burnett was the best player.
He starts with a match against Canada's greatest player Hirendra Bhartu, a man who ended Billy Jackson's chances of defending his world title at Potters, and could then meet Alex Marshall in the second round. Not a good draw on paper, but he's well capable of beating both these two, and if he does make it beyond Marshall, a bowler who has a wretched record in this event, then the draw really opens up for him and he avoids the two biggest dangers in Foster and world champion Greg Harlow, until the final.
Burnett's price of 20s is even better when you consider that Stan James have only gone 10-1 about a player who won the International Open in 2008.
Potters sensation Stewart Anderson won't be in Swansea as he'll be in Scotland attempting to defend his national title, thus robbing the event of its brightest spark, not that Ladbrokes will be unhappy as he nearly cost them £50,000 after reaching the final at Potters. Price also won't be there and that could have a damaging effect on his chances of getting back into the top 16, while Potters semi-finalist Robert Paxton failed to qualify for this event and bang goes his chances of getting elevated from his provisional position of 20th.
Brett bowled some great stuff on the Norfolk coast and the City of Ely star has been knocking on the periphery for some time now and a decent run by him could see him cement a place at the top table. He's 25-1 with both Skybet and Ladbrokes, and he looks decent each-way value although he is due to meet my selection Burnett by about the quarter-final stage.
Harlow is the favourite across the boards – best price of 7-1 – but he is overlooked as players just don't win two events in a row and after busting a gut to win the world title, he won't be totally bothered if he fails to win this one. Foster is also 7-1 with Betfred and for a bower of his calibre that is always a price to get interested in, although he is set for another meeting with nemesis Harlow at the last eight stage.
Mervyn King had been going great guns before his early exit at Hopton-On-Sea and at 14-1 there could be a little bit of value in there to be had also.
