Bowls: Marshall triumph carves name alongside legends
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Your support makes all the difference.The top seed and defending champion Alex Marshall rewrote the record books in style yesterday, beating the Australian Mark McMahon, 13-3, 9-8, in the Potters Holidays world indoor singles final on the Norfolk Coast.
The Scot picked up the £28,000 winner's cheque and carved his name alongside bowls legends Tony Allcock, David Bryant and fellow-Scot Richard Corsie as a three-time winner of the title. The 36-year-old, title-holder in 1999 and 2003, also joins Bryant, Allcock and Andy Thomson as the only back-to-back winners of the title since the event began 26 years ago.
The East Lothian player was quickly into his stride, reeling off seven straight shots for a 7-0 four-end lead and a storming finish saw him take five shots over the closing two ends to take first blood.
The Scotland-born McMahon, appearing in his first final after three previous semi-final defeats, held a 7-3 advantage after seven ends in the best-of-11 ends, two-set final. But the definitive point in the match came when Marshall trailed the jack from a McMahon shot to count a treble that sent him on his way to the title despite dropping a single on the last end.
Marshall said afterwards: "That bowl definitely won me the match because of the way Mark was playing at the time. The turning point in the match came in the second set when Mark held the upper hand at 7-3 and held shot. I drew the jack to my waiting shots and the pendulum swung to me. That narrowed the gap and gave me a buzz and I knew I was right back in the game."
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