Jackaroos edge closer to a gold rush
The Australian Jackaroos Games’ campaign remains on course after a clinical third round performance produced a further three wins – while a fourth discipline earned the nation’s first semi-final berth. Headlining the green and gold contingent’s endeavors in the Northern Hemisphere were the men’s triples team, of South Australia’s Wayne Ruediger, Queensland’s Nathan Rice and Victoria’s Matthew Flapper, who stretched their unbeaten record to three after out-classing their Papua New Guinean opponents. The Jackaroos were quick off the mark, sprinting to a 5-1 lead after 4 ends, before taking the rest of the game in their stride, maintaining the lead throughout to record a 20-10 victory. While a parochial crowd of supporters relished their comprehensive victory, the trio face their toughest encounter yet next, pitted against the only other undefeated team in their section of the draw, England, who sit above them with a 5 shot differential. In other matches, Australia’s golden girl Kelsey Cottrell fought her way back onto the singles winners’ list after a shock loss to Zambia in her previous bout. A final score line of 21-12 against Guernsey’s Lucy Kate Beere doesn’t really tell the tale of the solid performance produced by Cottrell, which included multiple full counts of 4 shots. “Every game I’m playing better, which sounds strange given I lost my second match, but that’s how I feel,” Cottrell said after stepping off the green. “I only really played two bad ends that match, so to concede 12 shots surprises me a bit.” Like the triples team, Cottrell also cannot afford to rest on her laurels just yet, with a clutch encounter against Wale’s Caroline Taylor due in round four. The team’s third victory came courtesy of the men’s pairs combination of Brett Wilkie and Aron Sherriff, who battled tooth and nail to etch a 14-10 onto the scorecard against Norfolk Island. “Omar [Sherriff] played really well but I was a bit scratchy,” commented a self-critical Aussie Vice-Captain Brett Wilkie. “We held two on six occasions and they drew the last shot. They just seemed to lift against us. “We felt like we were dominating, but they got there with 1 bowl on many occasions.” In a case of déjà vu from yesterday’s morning session, the Vision Impaired Mixed Pairs team were again the only team unable to secure a spot in the winners’ circle. Joy Forster and Tony Scott, accompanied by directors Bruce Jones and Peter Scott, were left ruing after coming up against the red-hot host nation in their last sectional rubber. While the 9-15 end result was their second loss, the pairs large margin win in round two again Wales was enough to book their sport in the upcoming semi-final. Scotland and South Africa topped the tables at the end of proceedings, followed by Australia and New Zealand, with the a repeat of the Jackaroos v Tartan Titans encounter scheduled for 3.45am AEST after the random allocation. “Any one of these teams are good enough to win a medal, as you can see by the even results in the pool matches,” said Parasport Coach Kelvin Kerkow. “We’ll sit down now and chat through this performance and see where we can improve for the post-sectional games.” Round three results: Men’s Triples Round 3: Wayne Ruediger, Nathan Rice and Matthew Flapper (AUS) def Patrick Ikirima, Harry Doutara and Lucas Roika (PNG) 20-10 Men’s Pairs Round 3: Brett Wilkie and Aron Sherriff (AUS) def John Christian and Tim Sheridan (NFK) 14-10 Women’s Singles Round 3: Kelsey Cottrell (AUS) def Lucy Kate Beere (GGY) 21-12 Para-Sport Mixed Pairs B2/B3 Round 3: Joy Forster (Bruce Jones – Director) and Tony Scott (Peter Scott – Director) (AUS) lost to Irene Edgar (David Thomas – Director) and Robert Conway (Ron McArthur – Director) (SCO) 9-15 Upcoming round four matches: Men’s Triples Round 4 (SAT: 12.45am-3.00am AEST): Wayne Ruediger, Nathan Rice and Matthew Flapper (AUS) v John McGuinness, Stuart Airey and Jamie Chestney (ENG) Women’s Fours Round 4 (SAT: 12.45am-3.00am AEST): Carla …
