Dogga’s bark set to bite in quarter finals showdown
Bendigo’s young-gun Nathan Wilson has kept his composure to secure his first Australian Open quarter finals berth in the men’s singles draw. The 20-year-old held his nerve against North Balwyn’s Jerome Coles in the dying moments of the match, picking up a staggering nine counts on the final three ends to overthrow the scorecard 21-20 to advance his proceedings in this year’s $140,000 Australian Open. Affectionately known as ‘Dogga’ by his supporters in the crowd, the Victorian had a slow start to the match but registered the shot-counts when he needed them most, picking up consecutive counts of three with the narrative reaching its climax when Wilson played the perfect hand to pick up a full count from the final end of play. A modest Wilson attributes his successes with the bowls on the green today to a bit of luck and said post match that is was “very good to get through to the quarter finals.” Leading into today’s nail-biting fourth round, Wilson has had his work cut out for him in this year’s men’s singles draw, accounting for Scottish world champion Graeme Archer and dual South Australian Player of the Year, Scott Thulborn. “I’ve had a couple of tough matches, but you’ve just got to get out there, play good bowls and see how you go.” Accrediting to his success in this year’s draw sees a thankful Wilson for the upkeep on the greens at the Darebin International Sports Centre. “The Darebin greens are sensational, they’re the best I’ve seen in many years.” Wilson is eager to advance his seeding in this year’s draw, having now secured a quarter finals berth against New South Wales representative David Ferguson after he reigned supreme over Malaysian powerhouse and 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Fairnul Izwan Abdul Muin, 21-19. Moving through the draw Wilson plans on motioning the same plan his had in place for the last four rounds, “I’ll just rock up and play some lawn bowls.” Implementing the same strategy will see Cabramatta’s Ray Pearse set to battle it out against Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Nathan Rice as the pair both advanced in the men’s singles draw today. Pearse proved too strong for the 2008 Champion of Champions Premier League title holder in Dave Rankin, sending him back to Western Australia with a convincing 21-10 on the scoreboard. Across the rink Australian Jackaroo Nathan Rice ousted Bowls Australia Community Development Officer Barrie Lester, registering the same 21-10 scorecard. The curse of the fourth round proved fatal for Lester once more, with the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist having not progressed past this point now five times in the men’s singles draw. In other matches Australian Jackaroo Matthew Baus will now meet Mark Ryan in their quarter finals berth, after Baus accounted for Russell Green 21-15 and Ryan ruined Wayne Ruediger’s hopes of champion glory, triumphing by the smallest of margins, 21-19. While the tantalising showdown of world number one Leif Selby and 2009 Australian Open men’s singles champion Brett Wilkie will be on the menu after the pair prevailed over their opposition in the fourth round. Selby accounted for New South Wales qualifier Dylan Riley 21-13, while Wilkie breezed past Sam White in a little over an hour on rink 21-7 to secure his quarter finals berth. Catch all the action from the men’s singles quarter finals live from 8:30am tomorrow at the Darebin International Sports Centre. Story provided by Courtney McKenna for bowlsaustralia.com.au. Caption: Nathan Wilson revels in the Australian Open limelight.
