Elgin’s Mike Stepney has eyes on causing an upset on Tuesday at the Imagine Cruising World Indoor Bowls Championship at Potters Resorts, Hopton-on-Sea in Norfolk – after defeat in the pairs final.
Stepney’s second-round singles shot against two-times winner Mark Dawes from Lancashire comes just a day after he lost in the pairs final along with his new partner, Welsh star Jason Greenslade..
The duo played well throughout the competition, but lost their world final 10-4, 9-5 against England’s Nick Brett and Greg Harlow.
Speaking just after the final on Monday, 41-year-old Stepney believes his overall game is in a good place for his second-round singles showdown as he aims to improve on last year where he lost in the last-eight against Paul Foster.
He said: “Mark has beaten me a couple of times on the tour and he beat me in the second round of this competition a couple of years ago, as well as in the International Open last year at Stanley.
“He’s a brilliant player and he’s won it twice, so it will be a tough one.
“I’m very happy about how I’m playing. I don’t think I disgraced myself in the pairs final. I was putting a lot of bowls in the area to give us chances.
“I’m quietly happy going into this game and quietly confident I can perhaps cause an upset as I will be the underdog.
‘However, if I can put my first two bowls in like I did on Monday, then I’ve got a chance.”
Tighter contest than result shows
Stepney is a successful skip at national level with a host of Scottish titles, and he and Welshman Greenslade went into the world pairs final showdown in a confident mood.
The first set raced away from them, though.
A tighter tussle played out after that, but a 4-1 advantage early on was turned around by their opponents, who went on the post an 9-5 result in set two, which put the contest out of reach.
Moray’s Stepney, who was world singles champion last year, is ranked 12th in the world, and felt he and Greenslade have plenty to be proud of, despite losing out.
He said: “I was really happy with the way I played and I started off very well, but their timing shots were second to none. They hit the heads and got good results.
“On the whole, as a pairing, they were probably just slightly better, but I don’t think there was much in the game, which was much closer than the scoreline suggests.
“Their timings were a bit better than ours and they got the right results when it mattered.”
‘Not the worst of starts’ for new duo
Stepney was thrilled to have clicked with Greenslade immediately – to the point they were one win from a world title together.
He added: “If someone had said at the start that we would, as a new pairing, reach the final, we’d have bitten your arm off for it, so we can’t complain too much.
“We’d obviously have liked to have gone one better, but it’s not the worst of starts.”
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