Benalla product Tyson Cromie (right), who now bowls for Ocean Grove, claimed the 2025 Bowls Australia National Championships Men’s Singles title on Thursday, November 27 at Devonport Country Club in Tasmania. Photos: Bowls Victoria
Former Benalla local Tyson Cromie has long been a prodigious bowls talent, but his performance a fortnight ago in Tasmania has cemented his place as one of Australia’s best.
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Now plying his trade for Ocean Grove, Cromie rolled his way to the Bowls Australia National Championships Men’s Singles title at Devonport Country Club on Thursday, November 27, adding perhaps the biggest bowls accolade in the country to an already glittering resume that boasts the 2025 Victorian State Singles title, too.
Cromie enjoyed a hot start to the round-robin section of the tournament, which pitted each of the seven state and territory champions against each other in two sections, with the top-ranked player on either side of the draw progressing directly to the gold medal match.
Benalla product Tyson Cromie poses with his silverware after being crowned men’s singles national champion in Tasmania.
Drawn in section one, Cromie beat Darwin’s Trystan Smallacombe (25-11) and Adelaide’s Jonathan Voigt (25-18) in the first two rounds of competition, putting him in a strong position as the only undefeated player and boasting an impressive 21-shot differential at the top of the section one leaderboard with one game remaining.
The big differential would prove pivotal following his final round-robin match-up against New South Welshman and 2023 champion Cody Packer, which he lost 19-25, leaving the pair tied with a 2-1 record at the top, however, Cromie’s hot start to the tournament saw him progress having outscored his opponents by 15 shots throughout three games, as opposed to Packer’s seven.
It has been a big year on the rink for Tyson Cromie, who also claimed the Victorian state singles title in April.
As a result the Benalla product was sent straight into the decider against Western Australia’s Ben Leggett, with the two doing battle for the right to call themselves national champion.
It would be Leggett that took the early upper hand, leading through the first three ends until Cromie tied it up in the fourth at three shots apiece, before going on to take the lead for the first time in the contest with two shots in the next end to lead 5-3.
While the pair would find itself level again at 7-7 in the ninth end and, again, at 11-11 in the 14th, Cromie would not fall behind his opponent for the remainder of the match, as he went on a critical run that proved decisive in his title charge.
Between the 15th and 20th end, Cromie gave up only one shot while scoring six himself to open up a game-high 17-12 advantage.
The margin would come back down to three as Cromie went scoreless over the next two ends, however, a mammoth return of eight shots to two over the final five ends saw Cromie romp to the gold medal in emphatic fashion, securing the title with a 25-16 victory.
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