Caroline Brown today became the first Scottish Woman to win the World Cup in Warilla, Australia.
The 32 year old from Motherwell, recently picked for Team Scotland’s 10 strong bowls team competing at this summer’s Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, beat Guernsey’s Alison Merrien 7-7 12-2 in the final.

“Every time you play for Scotland and win something it’s a great achievement and to win the World Cup on my first year coming here I’m over the moon,” said delighted Brown afterwards.

“This is definitely up there with the other titles I’ve won. I’m over the moon with the way I played all week.”
Brown, part of Scotland’s women’s Fours team which won the 2012 World Championship in Australia, emerged strongly from a tough pool section earlier in the week at Warilla, played indoors on carpet.

She beat World Outdoor Singles Champion Australian Karen Murphy and New Zealand’s Jo Edwards, a four times winner at Warilla, to help her into the semi finals where she overcame another top player, Malaysian Siti Zalina Ahmad.

“It’s a great boost when you are in a tournament as big as this and you beat some of the best players in a tough group section,” continued Brown.

“I felt I caught the carpet really well, just kept my form up right through the week, carried on from there and kept it going right through to the final.”

With both Brown and Merrien in top form for today’s final it was no surprise to see the first set drawn 7-7, but it was Brown’s focus and determination that made the difference in the second. The final score was 7-7 12-2.

“The first set was really close,” added Brown. “We were both playing really well but going into the second set I felt it’s still there for the taking, you win this and you win the match.

“I just knuckled down and got my head down and really focused, concentrated on my game and picked it up from there.”

Brown heads to Spain next Wednesday with the Scottish team as part of the continuing training process for July’s Commonwealth Games.

Photo credit: Rob Eyton-Jones