NEIL SMITH scooped a pre-Christmas bonus last Saturday with victory in the Barwell Open.

The Westlecot indoor bowler put the disappointment of his England omission from the squad for the Home International Series in Wales at Llanelli next March firmly behind him, beating Joe Dawson 2-1 in the final to claim the Barwell title and lift the £1,200 first prize in the 11th event of the Open Singles Circuit this season.

Smith edged the first set 6-5, lost the next 6-3 but won the tie-breaker 2-0 to take the title and rise in this season’s OSC rankings to seventh spot.

On the way to the title, Smith was taken to three tie-breakers in his six games and also collected a notable scalp on the way.

In his opening game, Smith beat local player George Duckett 2-0 (6-3, 8-4) but was pushed hard in the second by OSC regular Chipping Norton’s Martin Shepherd before winning in a tie-breaker 9-6, 5-8, 2-1.

Smith was taken to a tie-breaker again in round three before beating Steve Wade (Leicester) 2-1 (3-10, 10-4, 2-0).

In the quarter-final, Smith collected a prize scalp with victory over the OSC rankings leader Wellingborough’s Jamie Walker - beating him 2-0 (8-7, 7-4).

He followed that up with a comfortable 2-0 (8-1, 5-1) semi-final success over Ryan Prosser to book his place in the final.

“A great day but really tough to win six matches in a day,” said Smith.

“Some stand-out moments on the way to winning the title were my second round match against Martin Shepherd, which was a cracker.

“I led all the way but could not finish him off. I held game on the last end of the second set, only for him to draw shot to take it to a tie-break.

“Then I held game again on second end of the tie-breaker and he did it again. I then held game on the third end and he killed it so we played the end again, which I eventually won.

“In the final I beat local lad Joe Dawson, getting a two on the last end to win the first set, and narrowly lost the second.

Smith added: “The first end of the tie-breaker was tied so it set up the possible of a one-bowl shoot-out if we shared the next two ends.

“Luckily, I won both to win the title and £1,200 winners cheque.”

Although this was the Open Singles Circuit’s 11th tournament this season, Smith has only played in four of them but has an impressive record to date of two quarter-finals, one runner-up finish and one win and is seventh in the 2015/16 OSC rankings.

His next tournament on the OSC is Bournemouth on boxing day.