Thulborn riding a wave of success into APL02
Newly crowned national Champion of Champions Scott Thulborn hopes his hot form will extend into next month’s Australian Premier League bowls tournament, as Rob Greenwood reports for the Adelaide Advertiser .
The Adelaide Bowling Club skip claimed the singles title with a 21-13 win over Western Australia’s Thomas Mitchell in the final at Taren Point, NSW, on Wednesday.
Thulborn, who saw off champions from each state and territory, says his maiden national tournament victory is a career highlight.
“Individually it’s definitely my greatest win – I’m over the moon,” Thulborn said.
“We had 140mm of rain (the night before the final) so it was pretty wet and windy, and pretty horrible bowls conditions.
“We had a good battle but I probably adjusted to the conditions a little better than (Mitchell) on the day.”
The title caps an impressive year for Thulborn, who led Adelaide Endurance to second place at the inaugural APL at Pine Rivers last year.
The full-time greenkeeper was named MVP for the $100,000 tournament after the franchise narrowly went down to Brisbane Gold in the final.
“Looking back, it’s almost hard to pick my favourite win from the past 12 months because I’ve been lucky enough to get on a bit of a streak,” says Thulborn, who also won his third straight SA Premier One title with Adelaide last season.
“I’ve had a lot more opportunities in the last two years, which has helped me get a bit of success.
“I remember being daunted by playing against the big names but now I’m excited about it.”
Thulborn has now qualified to take on the cream of international bowls at the World Champion of Champions on the Gold Coast in November next year.
He says his focus has switched to helping the Endurance go one better in the APL, which has been labelled bowls’ answer to Twenty20 cricket.
The APL features shortened matches, coloured uniforms, in-game substitutions and will be televised live on Fox Sports from November 18-21.
