Day 1 Results
The first day of the Tasmania vs Victoria Test Series was held today at the Clayton Bowls Club in Victoria. For the Tasmanian teams it would be the boys who would be leading the way, with the Men taking the second test and the Under 18s taking the first test and only test played for the juniors today.
The women held their own but were unable to defeat a very strong Victorian team in both of the tests and the Under 18 girls could only manage to win one of today’s four disciplines.
The day started with windy conditions and a strong start for our Tasmanian men. The men made sure the Victorians knew they were there to play, leading by eight, thanks to a 7 by Robert McMullen’s rink against Dylan Fisher midway through the game. But it then became the Aaron Wilson show, highlighting why many believe a debut for Australia may not be too far away. His 30-9 victory over Mark Nitz proved the difference with Brett Spurr playing some great bowls to help Wilson in this win. Matthew Flapper also found himself in the winner’s circle defeating Lee Schraner 24-19 and the shining light for Tasmania was McMullen’s 28-12 win over Fisher.
The second test the Men had to work from behind to win the test. After 38 ends the Vics lead by 13 and none of the Tassie rinks were in front. Over the next 20 ends the scores narrowed until eventually Tasmania hit the lead and managed to survive over the last few ends to win by 5. A great thing about this result was that all rinks were able to get to the front when it counted. Mark Nitz, who had been presented his 150th test cap before the first test, left Dylan Fisher winless with a 21-20 win, Schraner too also won by one shot defeating the in-form player and good friend Wilson 19-18. Once again it was McMullens rink of Brad Gibson, Simon Zaporozec & Michael Sims who had the biggest win with a 19-16 victory over Flapper.
Whilst the women weren’t able to get a test win, they played very well to only narrowly lose by 3 in the first test. The Vics were able to get out to a 12 shot lead, but some strong bowls from Bec Van Asch and her rink of Alison Venn, Hollie Keen & Courtney Hobbs gave the Tassie team a chance that they couldn’t quite take in the end. Van Asch’s rink ended the test with a 16 shot victory over Nicole Shortis but was the only successful rink for the test. Chloe Stewart celebrated her 20th birthday with a convincing 13 shot win over Kim Saunders and Lisa Phillips was able to defeat Lyn Triffitt by 6 shots 21-15.
The second test was a lot more one sided with the Victorians winning by 28 shots. Van Asch’s rink was unable to maintain their good form, suffering a 35-12 defeat at the hands of Lisa Phillips. Saunders also suffered a double digit loss with a 23-11 loss. Once again Tassie was able to win one of the rinks this time it would be Lyn Triffitt who defeated Stewart 19-12. The Team has shown that they have the ability to win a test if they can all put it together at the one time, hopefully tomorrow is the day.
The juniors saw mixed results with the boys winning but the girls losing their first test. With only 5 players, the teams played Pairs & Triples in the morning and then Singles & Fours in the afternoon. If the disciplines are tied 2-2, then shots up are taken into account. Both of our teams were locked at 1-1 and had the shots up advantage heading into the 2nd games. Mitch Banks from New Norfolk was unable to win in the singles, but took place in a game of the highest quality and was only defeated by 3 shots. This meant that the fours team knew a win by 2 shots or more would give them the first test. A convincing 27-10 victory was more than enough to take the advantage into day 2. Our girl’s pairs team of Mikayla Fuller & Logyn Curtis won by 12 shots in the morning, giving the girls a 3 shot advantage heading into the afternoon. Unfortunately both Victorian teams came out firing and managed to win 25-11 in the singles and 23-12 in the fours.
The Junior’s will play the second test tomorrow as well as the first two disciplines of the third test, before finishing the third test on Friday.
