Triple threat
Australia’s women’s team of Lynsey Clarke, Karen Murphy and Kelsey Cottrell have enjoyed a solid hit out in their first triples rubber to kick start their last shot at securing a Commonwealth Games medal. The world’s number one bowls nation was always going to be a short priced favourite against Niue, and ironically it would be the third time in 24 hours that an Australian team had played and beaten a team from the tiny Pacific Island nation. It started yesterday afternoon with the men’s singles (21-6), then the women’s pairs this morning (30-9) and finally the women’s triples this afternoon. “It was a good start to the program and we’re very happy to get a win first up,” Jackaroos Captain Lynsey Clarke said. “We kept them to ones, but they did score 10 of them” In fact, Niue actually scored on more ends than Australia, but with some big numbers, the Australians won the match relatively convincingly 24-10. Clarke said she was enjoying the challenge of the Northern Hemisphere competition and was relishing the parochial support from some familiar faces in the crowd. “Personally my form is good and going back to lead is a good change,” Clarke said. “I’m just focussing on getting my two (bowls) in the area.” “Having the support of the Aussies in the crowd is great, my Auntie and Uncle were in the crowd which gives us an amazing lift.” In superb conditions here the back green looked pretty as a picture and was enhanced even more by the ‘green and gold’ playing on rink 28. “The back green out here is much quieter but it’s very good to play on and the weather today is exactly what we like to play in,” she added. The team will now turn their focus to India who were very narrowly pipped by Malaysia (14-16) with the match scheduled for tomorrow at 11:45am local time (8.45pm AEST).
