Triples Review, now time for the Pairs
NSW & Queensland have walked away with the first gold medals for the Australian Championships held at Club Sapphire in Merimbula. Our Tassie teams found the going tough today but fought valiantly amongst some very tough opposition.
In the Men’s competition the news that Australian Squad member Lee Schraner had returned from an Australian training camp with a tendon sprain to his lower leg, was not welcome news and Schraner found it difficult skipping in their loss to ACT 12-19. Schraner then moved to the lead position but the Qld team were able to pick up 5 and 6 shots on separate ends, which was a deficit too far to close. In their final match they were able to pick up their first win for the day, 16-14 against the NT.
Our Women’s team came up against some very strong outfits today and were unable to record a win. Against WA, skipped by Australian squad member Kristina Krstic they went down 6-26, against the ACT they fell 13-24 before their closest result of the day was a loss to Victoria 14-23. Although not setting the score board alight, our team should be very proud of being the State Triples Champions and will have hopefully learnt from this experience.
The Queensland team of A Howard, P Balderson & M Mears would go on to take out the Men’s title, winning 20-11 against Victoria. Mears looks to be a very promising bowler, only aged 19 and winning a National title! In the Women’s competition the NSW trio of L Cronan, K Walker & K Wright (all from Taren Point) only just got over the line against Western Australia 14-13 in a very close encounter.
The competition now moves onto the Pairs. To read a preview on the event, please check my Championships Preview here – https://www.bowlstasmania.com.au/News/australian-championships-preview. However, it appears there has been a change in the Men’s program. The NT team is no longer playing and is now a Bye. To ensure that both sections have 3 teams, instead of 2 and 4, NSW has been moved into the Tasmanian’s section. They will now play Victoria in the first match, followed by NSW in the second match.
In good news, both of our Tasmanian pairings will be covered on the Live Streaming service offered by Bowls Australia through Facebook.
At 8:45, our Women, Amelia Bruggy & Lyn Triffitt will be on the featured rink against Victoria.
At Midday, our Men, Father & Son duo Ricky & Luke Richardson will be on the secondary rink against NSW, meaning you should be able to still see the majority of the bowls but the focus of the commentary will be on the ACT vs Qld match.
If either of our teams make it through to the Final, these will be streamed at 6pm.
By David Genford
