Super 6 titles on the line in Burnie
Victoria’s 18 year-old Chloe Stewart is poised to meet NSW world champion Kelsey Cottrell in the Super 6 blue-ribbon singles final at Tasmania’s South Burnie Bowls Club tomorrow. During a battle-hardened campaign, Stewart qualified for the championships decider after escaping the three sectional encounters unbeaten, defeating Western Australia’s Kristina Krstic, ACT’s Sharon Harmer and Northern Territory’s Sharon Warfe to secure her ticket for a shot at the golden medallion. “I’ll just have a crack tomorrow and try my best, if that’s good enough, great, but if not, it’s good to just get this far,” Stewart said after cementing her spot. “I’m just really pleased, I had a close game this morning and once I got past that I knew I’d have a pretty good chance to go all the way.” Stewart, one of two finalists in tomorrow’s Under-18 Female Bowler of the Year accolade at the sport’s Awards Night, faces one last mammoth hurdle though – with reigning titleholder Cottrell going in search of consecutive gold medals, after taking the honours in Bendigo, Victoria last year. “It would be pretty awesome to go back-to-back, but to be honest, it wasn’t something that I was thinking about when I came here,” Cottrell said. “Last year I got a bit lucky, someone lost and I scraped through, but this year I think I’ve played well enough and deserve to be there, and if I keep it up, I guess there’s every chance that I can go back-to-back.” Cottrell and her ACT boyfriend Andrew Howie, who have affectionately been dubbed ‘bowls super couple’, won’t have the opportunity to obtain both the men’s and women’s Super 6 singles crowns again this year though. “Andrew has let me down a bit, I’ve made my final, and he’s only made the bronze play-off so it’s just not good enough really,” Cottrell said with a wry smile. Victorian-turned-Tasmanian Lee Schraner was the first to secure a berth in the men’s gold medal final, with the one-time Australian representative overcoming the “section from hell”, which included two-time reigning International Bowler of the Year Aron Sherriff (NSW), former national representative Anthony Kiepe (QLD) and Australian Premier League star Scott Thulborn (SA). His opponent for national title decider is Victoria’s 20-year-old Australian Jackaroos representative Dylan Fisher, who also progressed through unscathed. The Big V men’s contingent were quick to acclimatise to the Tasmanian conditions, remaining undefeated in all three disciplines to earn a shot at three gold medals – four in total, while host state Tasmania are contenders for three gold medals tomorrow. The Super 6 series at the Australian Sides Championships will conclude at South Burnie tomorrow with the finals commencing at 9.30am. Click here for full results from the Super 6. Women’s singles gold medal play-off: Chloe Stewart (VIC) v Kelsey Cottrell (NSW) Women’s singles bronze medal play-off: Kristina Krstic (WA) v Natasha Jones (QLD) Women’s pairs gold medal play-off: Laura Merz, Kelli Rogalski (WA) v Kay Moran, Karen Murphy (NSW) Women’s pairs bronze medal play-off: Colleen Orr, Letitia Baldwin (NT) v Kim Saunders, Gaylene Elsworthy (TAS) Women’s triples gold medal play-off: Lois Waters, Ruth Moore, Nicole Mengel (ACT) v Maureen Zoon, Erin Sesara, Jenny Redshaw (TAS) Women’s triples bronze medal play-off: Shenayde Heldt, Rechelle Cole, Therese Hastings (WA) v Samantha Wilson, Tracy Foster, Louise Witton (QLD) Men’s singles gold medal play-off: Dylan Fisher (VIC) v Lee Schraner (TAS) Men’s singles bronze medal play-off: Andrew Howie (ACT) v Aron Sherriff (NSW) Men’s pairs gold medal play-off: Peter Loe, Matthew Flapper (VIC) v Anthony Fantini, Mark Casey (QLD) Men’s pairs bronze medal play-off: Matthew Ayres, Matthew Ellul (WA) v Adam Forbes, Max Kleinig (SA) Men’s triples gold medal play-off: Barrie Lester, Brett Foley, Aaron Wilson (VIC) v Chris Dudman, Simon Zaporozec, Adam White (TAS) Men’s triples bronze medal play-off: Daniel Patterson, Clive Adams, Thomas Mitchell …