By the narrowest margin ever recorded in WBT history, Scotland's Alex Marshall retains his number one ranking in the end-of-season World Bowls Tour World Rankings - just a single point ahead of his nearest rival Mark Royal.

By the narrowest margin ever recorded in WBT history, Scotland's Alex Marshall retains his number one ranking in the end-of-season World Bowls Tour World Rankings - just a single point ahead of his nearest rival Mark Royal.

Fakenham's Mervyn King drops a place from seventh to eighth after a season in which he has gone out at the quarter-final stage of every WTA tour event. Gallow clubmate Jamie Chestney drops from 27th to 30th.

For the first time ever, less than 10 points separate the top five players in the list - with Scotland's Paul Foster three points behind Suffolk's Royal and a further three points ahead of fourth-placed Englishman Greg Harlow; and Australian-based Scot David Gourlay a mere two points adrift of the pack in fifth position.

The new world rankings - on which the seedings for next season's World Bowls Tour events will be based - come at the end of a historic WBT season in which qualifiers won two of the ranking tournaments.