ACT take the early lead in Men & Women’s series

by admin on January 29, 2017

The ACT have taken the upper hand in both the Men’s & Women’s test series, with the Men narrowly being defeated, whilst the women finished well behind.
The test was moved to a night match due to the extreme heat in the ACT with the temperature still reading 31 degrees at the later 6pm start.
The Men’s test came down to the last 4 ends of the match, all played by Mark Nitz but there was to be no last end heroics, with the ACT team confident they would win the measure and choosing to not play their last bowl. They were correct, giving the ACT the one shot win.
Earlier in the match, Michael Sims found himself a long way down but fought back to help keep the overall score close. Lee Schraner maintained his good form, after winning the Penguin Classic Pairs with Aaron Wilson earlier this week, and was too strong for his opposition. Mark Nitz was solely focussed on the overall score but it wasn’t to be, losing his rink.
Schraner was very focussed on what needs to happen tomorrow; “It was a super match with a lot of good players on the green. The Tasmanian players need to stay positive and need to get off to a better start. Our skips are playing well, so bowls in the head will be key.”
The Tasmanian women were never really in the game. The ACT jumped out of the blocks and despite Bree Mabb coming back to take a victory, the overall margin was never threatened.
Rebecca Van Asch was still positive after the first test; “It wasn’t the ideal start to things for us, but it’s only early in the series. My rink had one of those games you’d rather forget, so I’m glad that’s behind us now! Bree’s result was a real positive, hopefully we can draw something from that result tomorrow”.
Both teams will be keen to make the score line 1-1 tomorrow with the second test starting at 9am. The third test has also been moved to 6pm due to another day of extreme heat in the capital territory. Tests 4 & 5 are scheduled to be played as normal (9am & 1pm) on the third day’s play.
 
Official Scores
Men
L Schraner def M McLean 23-20
M Sims drew with D Thomas 20-20
Mark Nitz def by I Whybrow 15-19
Women
L Triffitt def by R Moore 11-24
B Mabb def S Harmer 21-15
R Van Asch def by M Bacchetto 17-26
By David Genford