Full steam ahead
It’s full steam ahead for the Murray team in APL02 The Murray Steamers are chugging along nicely after five rounds of the $110,000 Australian Premier League at Brisbane’s Club Pine Rivers.
The highly regarded new franchise are picking up steam with just nine sectional rounds remaining at the coveted APL02 event, after cutting a swath through their opposition in their maiden outing to head the standings after five matches on day one of the four day tournament.
The Moama Bowling Club aligned team, which boasts some of the sport’s premier players; including Scotland’s Alex Marshall, Canada’s Ryan Bester and bolstered by local product Michael Walker, was widely regarded by pundits in-the-know as the team to beat prior the start of the event, and have firmed even more after retaining an unblemished record following four afternoon sectional rounds and a live Fox Sports televised broadcast encounter.
The Steamers have now accounted for five of the seven opposing teams, after a tie-break win over the BCiB Sydney Lions, New Zealand Blackjacks, and straight sets wins over the Solargain Perth Suns, Gold Coast Hawks and then the defending titleholders, Brisbane Gold, in the live-to-air broadcast rubber.
With just nine sectional matches scheduled over the next two days, the Steamers are now firmly in the box seat to advance to the best-of-four post-sectional rounds, with a round six encounter against the Adelaide Endurance set for 10.00am AEST tomorrow, followed by the Blundstone Melbourne Roys as the only other team yet to square off against the newly introduced juggernaut, with Victorian and border-town teams set for battle from 11.30am.
The Blackjacks team from across the ditch look set to retain their position in the final four of Australia’s second highest prize-pool tournament, behind the $225,000 Australian Open, provided they continue their stellar run, as the only team on four victories, while the Suns and Endurance round out the top four, with three wins each.
Round six of APL02 continues from 10.00am AEST, with live scoring of each and every match on australianpremierleague.com.au.
Caption: Murray Steamers Ryan Bester, Alex Marshall and Michael Walker.
