On the mats — Indoor bowls news

Centre open singles champ: Andrew Rickard with the trophy and prize envelope for the indoor bowls centre open singles title he won by beating Jay Casey in the final. Picture supplied

by Horsey

Andrew Rickard showed class on his way to winning the indoor bowls centre open singles final 13-6 against Jay Casey.

Rickard was unbeatable all day. He defeated Kaye Easton in his first game, then recorded a draw in Game 2 against Bryan Pulley.

He followed this with a win against his daughter, Rachael Rickard, then came up against three-time national champion Keith Setter in his last qualifying game.

It was a case of “anything Setter could do, Rickard did much better”.

After qualifying, Rickard played Bryan Pulley again. This time Pulley was no match for Rickard, who cruised to victory 9-2.

In the other semifinal, Jay Casey was too good, beating Matthew Foster comfortably, 7-4.

Rickard, in turn, proved too strong for Casey, winning the final by seven shots.

This win earned Rickard his 18th centre title and seventh gold-star-status title.