David versus Goliath battle
It will be a David versus Goliath battle when Bendigo’s Nathan Wilson and former world number two Brett Wilkie clash in the $18,000 Australian Open blue ribbon men’s singles final tomorrow (20/2). Wilson, the brother of last year’s singles winner Aaron, has taken the Southern Hemisphere’s richest event by storm this week, defeating the likes of current Scottish world champion Graeme Archer, Australian Premier League Adelaide Endurance star Scott Thulborn and dual NSW bowler of the year Ray Pearse en route to the gold medal decider. Wilson will endeavour to follow in his brother’s footsteps in the biggest match of his career, but the 20 year-old faces a huge final hurdle, with Australian Jackaroos vice-captain Wilkie standing in his way. “Everyone’s a chance on the day,” Wilson said about his upcoming encounter. “I’d be very privileged I could add my name to the winner’s list alongside the likes of Leif Selby and Mark Casey, it would be amazing to feature on that, and I’ll certainly be trying tomorrow. “I won’t be doing too much differently to prepare though, I think I’ll still go home and watch cartoons tonight.” Whilst not intimately familiar with his young opponent, Wilkie says he won’t be taking anything for granted in his attempt to be reunited with the trophy that he last held aloft in 2009. “I don’t know much about Nathan, to be honest, but I’ve heard a bit about him from around the greens the last few days, and plenty of people have been talking about how well he’s playing,” Wilkie said after learning of his opponent. “I’ll just go out there and worry about my game and concentrate on what I’m doing. “It’s a special tournament on the Bowls Australia calendar, its always the one you look forward to every year, so it would be great to win it again. “The title is a pretty big carrot, but at the end of the day the prize cheque doesn’t hurt either and it’s pretty handy to have the money tacked onto the honour of winning an Australian title.” The 2014 Australian Open men’s final, which boasts an $18,000 first-placed prize purse and $8,000 runner-up cheque, will be staged at 6.00pm AEDT tomorrow at the Darebin International Sports Centre. Live streaming of the fours, pairs and singles finals will be available free of charge on bowlsaustralia.com.au tomorrow, commencing at 12.30pm, 3.15pm and 6.00pm respectively. Caption: Nathan Wilson will aim to follow in his brother’s footsteps tomorrow.
