Third Trans-Tasman title triumph
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Australia retained the Trans-Tasman trophy with a blistering show of bowls, taking victory with a day to spare and completing a hat-trick of wins.
From the off in Traralgon, the Jackaroos dominated the Kiwis, taking 11 victories from the 14 on offer on the first morning.
There was fight in the Blackjack Men’s triples line up though, as they won both encounters on the opening day to give the New Zealanders something to smile about.
But it was the green and gold who dominated play between these two red-hot rivals.
Lynsey Clarke, Karen Murphy and Natasha Scott took revenge for their early narrow loss by driving home a comprehensive 21-6 victory.
Debutant Carla Odgers with the experienced Kelsey Cottrell punished Jo Edwards and Val Smith with back-to-back triumphs in the Women’s pairs.
Queenslander Brett Wilkie, partnered by Matthew Flapper, overcame a Kiwi combo of Dan Delany and Richard Girvan 21-8 in their first encounter, but lost the second 15-12.
It was the young Australians proving invincible as the under 18’s won all their games and racked up a 44-shot advantage over their challengers from across the ditch.
While the contest was fiercely fought, there was evidence of a sporting nature on show.
In an agreement between Steve Glasson and his Kiwi counterpart, Dave Edwards, one of the greens was curated to match those at Kelvingrove, Glasgow, who will host the Commonwealth Games bowls.
“It’s pointless going out there playing on a fast green. We’re not going to get any feedback out of that,” commented Glasson.
“If you look back historically we’ve both probably performed under par in the UK. If we can work together hopefully we can make sure the Southern Hemisphere gets a good grab of the podium finishes.”
Edwards gave his view on the change of conditions, “You’ve got to change your whole mindset. We draw to the jack in New Zealand, you’ve got to draw at it on their (Scottish) greens.”
Australia clearly had the upper hand on day one, but the title was secured on day two as the Australian’s served up an even more emphatic bowls.
The Kiwis did rally early on the second morning, but it wasn’t enough to knock the powerful Jackaroos off their stride, as they marched to success in Men’s and Women’s class at Open, Under 18’s, Development and Para-sport levels.
Only the Women’s development competition proved elusive to the Aussies.
After winning 21-11 earlier, Braidan Leese claimed the honours as he edged out Keanu Darby in a grueling 21-20 under 18’s battle. But the Queensland young gun lost the final game 21-13 later in the afternoon.
Cory Wedlock partnered Leese in the pairs, claiming the Hocking/Darby scalp 22-8, after the previous day’s 27-20 win.
Aron Sheriff triumphed 21-14 and 21-12 in the Men’s singles, but Shannon McIlroy got some consolation in the evening’s dead rubber contest, winning 21-11.
Wilkie, now partnered with Nathan Rice, got up 27-9 in the third pairs meeting, while the triples again came undone, suffering a 19-15 defeat.
In the Para-sport, Tony Bonnell’s triples team secured 16-7 and 20-12 wins before losing 14-11 in the third round.
With the trophy in the bag, the final day of competition will get underway today with many players taking advantage of the specially prepared green to stake their claim to be on the plane to Glasgow in July.
