Henry gunning for hat-trick
Jeremy Henry has kept alive hopes for a hat-trick of World Cup victories with success in the semi final at Warilla Bowling Club. The World Cup brings together representatives of more than 24 countries, battling in both Men’s and Women’s competitions. In both competitions the competitors play off in two sections, the best performed players from each section over the 11 sectional rounds progressing to the finals series. The best performed in each section progresses to the Semi Finals, while the 2nd and 3rd are drawn to play in Quarter Finals. In the Men’s competition the two to proceed directly to the Semi Finals were Jeremy Henry (Warilla, Australia) and Neil Furman (USA). Australia’s second Men’s representative (Jeremy Henry had direct qualification as reigning champion), Tony Wood (current Australian Indoor Singles Champion) qualified for the Semi Finals after beating Bobby Donnelly (South Africa) 8-2, 8-7 in a quarter final. In the remaining Men’s quarter final Shannon McIlroy ousted Stewart Anderson (Scotland) in a tie break, 8-7, 2-11, 2-1. In the Womens’ competition Carmen Anderson (Norfolk Island) and Siti Zalina Ahmad (Malaysia) progressed directly to the Semi Finals. The quarter finals saw a clash between the dominant players of the last six years, reigning champion Jo Edwards and former champion Alison Merrien (Guernsey). Edwards and Merrien have won the last six Womens’ World Cups, Edwards a four time champion. The first set ended tied at 9-9, the second went down to the last bowl, Merrien prevailing 8-6. Caroline Brown (Scotland) progressed to the semi finals, winning the quarter final over Cliodhna Eadie (Ireland). Both players dominated in a set each, before Brown prevailed in the tie break, taking the match 15-2, 1-10, 4-0. In the first of the Womens’ semi finals, Carmen Anderson (Norfolk Island) was on track to end the Merrien/Edwards domination of the event, restricting Merrien to two singles to take the set 8-2 after 8 ends. (With an unassailable lead, the 9th and final end was not played). Merrien fought back in the second set, leading 9-4 after 7 ends, then ensuring the match would go to tie break by restricting Anderson to 2 on each of the last 2 ends of the set. Anderson seemed to have grabbed the ascendancy on the first end of the tie break, holding a terrific three shots before Merrien launched a sensational drive with the last bowl of the end to remove all three counters and claim shot. Merrien than capitalised on the second end, scoring two to lead 3-0. She then kept Anderson to single on the final tie break end to, once again, secure a place in the final. The second semi final saw Scotland’s Caroline Brown challenge Siti Zalina Ahmad (Malaysia). Brown opened the match with a single before Ahmad seemed to have taken the set by the throat, scoring three singles and a three to lead 6-1 after 5 ends. Brown then countered with counts of one, three and four to lead 9-6 with one end to play. Brown then closed out with single, taking the set 10-6. Brown continued her run in the opening stages of the second set, winning the first three ends to lead 4-0 before Ahmad opened her account with a single on the fourth end. Brown then played a superb draw with the final bowl of the fifth end to register a count of thee shots and followed up with another three on the sixth to lead 10-1. Ahmad scored a single on the 7th end to make the score 10-2, a scoreline where the match result was beyond doubt, giving the Scottish player the final berth. In the first Men’s semi final reigning Champion Jeremy Henry started slowly against Shannon McIlroy (New Zealand), the Kiwi claiming four of the first 5 ends of the opening set to lead 5-2. Henry then found his groove, scoring one, three and two to lead 8-5 with one to play. McIlroy had the better of the final end, but his two shots left “Aussie Jezz” with an 8-7 first set win. With the momentum of the first set win, Henry lifted in the second. McIlroy played superb bowls, but …
