THE incredible Alex Ross is back at the top of his game despite serious and ongoing challenges to his health and he won the indoor singles championship at Bainfield for a magnificent seventh time.
Ross, close to his 66th birthday, pulled out all the stops and somehow found the will and the energy to last out a marathon 30 ends of intensive singles combat to clinch a 21-20 nail-biter against Junior Scotland cap Craig Moss.
The victory was
an emotionally charged moment for Ross, who said: "I am a fighter and have missed a lot of the indoor season due to my treatments but my positive and determined nature is a major bonus to me and I hope my latest success can inspire and bring hope to others with a health fight on their hands."
To add to his more serious problems, Ross has had to contend with balance problems caused by a virus and his aftermatch comments highlighted the fact that he had played many of his bowls from sheer instinct. And Ross is no stranger to this type of situation having bounced back from a triple heart bypass in 2001 to win this very same championship title.
He added: "I had to play out of my skin to beat John Pryde in the semi-final and, at the time, was just happy to be in the final but Craig Moss is a leading figure in the stadium and that sparked the competitive bug in me.
Craig played brilliantly and produced many great touches so I was just hanging on in there."
The bold Ross – sometimes known as whiz bang wallop – did burn at least five ends as is his wont when faced with shots against but still thrilled the watching banking with the delicacy of his alternative style of play.
Moss opened with a 4 then led 9-4 but peels were called at 11 then 14 before the young pretender moved from 17-18 to 20 with a brilliant 3.
Ross dominated the next head to card a single to 19 then pinned a back-jack-chalker, clean as a whistle, to save the match and move to 20-20. End 30 saw Ross command the build up with a second bowl just six inches in front of jack and it survived the best efforts of Moss to count as the title winner.
The full article contains 405 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
