Tassie Men in Prime Position
Today’s play took our Men’s & Women’s teams in two totally different directions. Matches against the ACT and the very strong QLD both saw our Men win and Women lose.
The women will feel disappointed from their efforts today, especially from their mornings game where two rinks won but the overall result was a 22 shot loss. Unfortunately it was Kim Saunders, who was the big winner yesterday that suffered a cruel 35-9 loss. Losing scores of 3 or more on six separate occasions is too big to overcome and so it was today. Gaylene Elsworthy & Lyn Triffitt both won by 2 shots with both game remaining close for the whole encounter.
The afternoon match never went the right way for the Tasmanian team. Losses of 13-23 (Elsworthy), 10-18 (Saunders) & 12-31 (Triffitt) succumbed the team to a 37 shot loss. Saunders had a chance for a rink win at 10-13 with 2 ends remaining but dropping a 4 on the last end consigned the team to no rink wins.
This now leaves our women in 7th spot with crucial games against SA (6th) & Victoria (5th) tomorrow to ensure some respectability is added to their campaign.
The Men’s result were a different kettle of fish.
The match against the ACT was a close affair from start to finish. The end that turned the tide towards the Tasmanian team was Trevor Docking’s 18th end where he picked up a 6 and took his margin out to 11. Despite losing his last 3 ends he maintained a healthy lead winning 22-15. Barry Bone did enough to ensure the overall victory was secure but was unable to hold onto his lead. After 17 ends Bone lead 19-15 but losing 4 consecutive 2’s to finish the game put the pressure on the last rink remaining on the green. That rink was skipped by team captain Wayne Manson. Manson had jumped away to a 9-1 lead only to drop 8 shots in 3 ends. 3 ends later a dropped 5 had the captain worried that his rink could bring the team down. But the rink fought back well, Grant Allford in the 3 position, once again playing well. Going into the last end of the match Manson was down 20-21 but under the knowledge that dropping another 1 would be enough to win overall. The opposing skip held shot before his last bowl but in an effort to go for the win, turned a Tasmanian bowl in for shot, ensuring the win for Tasmania and a draw for Manson.
If the Men were to challenge for the title or at a minimum, a top 3 finish, they needed to keep their momentum going and defeat a Qld team that was looking to bounce back after being defeated by NSW in the morning. Once again, the overall scoreboard remained close, Tasmania able to keep it’s nose in front but never really extending its lead beyond 3 or 4. After 56 ends (the match is 63 ends long) the scores were level. Unless Tasmania lifted, all of this effort was going to go to waste. But lift they did. The 20th end for Bone & Docking saw both teams pick up big scores, 4 and 5 respectively, thus extinguishing the challenge from Queensland and the recording of a historic win.
After the game, team captain Wayne Manson was glowing in his praise of his team mates. “It’s the first time I can remember beating them, it’s a bloody big achievement!” It’s always hard to pick out individuals for accolades but Manson was able to highlight some players. “Trevor Docking’s rink of Leigh Munnings Wayne Wilcox & Peter Zoon have been very consistent and Barry Bone played some telling bowls late in the game including some big conversion shots late in the game. Tony Hack played well yesterday and today from the leads spot but I think everyone should be pleased with their efforts. Some players who haven’t played in this event before are starting to find their feet, hopefully they can continue enjoy the experience and play well over the next two days.”
The conditions were tricky to play in today, with the wind swapping around, meaning players needed to maintain concentration at all times if they wanted to play well. Our men met this challenge head on and will hopefully be able to continue these good results into round 4 and 5 against SA and ladder leaders Victoria tomorrow.
The Men now sit second on the ladder behind the also undefeated Victoria
All players have been very appreciative of the support you have sent their way and the supporters following from Tasmania have been very appreciative of the updates from Phil Hobbs and Rose’anne Howard. “It’s been great to get messages of congratulations from back home. The event is getting a more professional coverage which is great, hopefully we can win a couple more games tomorrow” concluded Manson. Tasmanian supporters will have their fingers crossed that they can continue to mix it with the bigger states and get a couple of nice results on Wednesday.
Results from Day 2
Men
Qld def NSW 57-52 (5-1), Tas def ACT 62-59 (4.5-1.5), WA def NT 64-42 (5-1), Vic def SA 65-61 (4-2)
NSW def ACT 77-47 (6-0), Vic def NT 72-43 (6-0), Tas def Qld 60-47 (5-1), SA def WA 58-56 (5-1)
Ladder Vic 9, Tas 9, WA 6, SA 6, NSW 3, Qld 3, NT 0, ACT 0
Women
ACT def Tas 77-55 (4-2), SA def Vic 54-53 (4-2), WA def NT 73-46 (5-1), NSW def Qld 59-56 (5-1)
NSW def ACT 72-55 (6-0), Qld def Tas 72-35 (6-0), Vic def NT 67-43 (6-0), WA def SA 58-48 (4-2)
Ladder NSW 9, Qld 6, WA 6, ACT 6, Vic 3, SA 3, Tas 3, NT 0
By David Genford
