Mixed bag of results for Jackaroos
It was a morning of mixed fortunes for the Australian Jackaroos in Glasgow, with a victory, a defeat and a draw all thrown in for good measure. Wayne Ruediger, Brett Wilkie, Nathan Rice and Matthew Flapper’s record in the men’s fours remains untarnished after three rounds, with the team backing up their round one win against Niue from Sunday with a clinical display against Norfolk Island today. The green and gold quartet skipped away to a 9-1 start, which despite their world number one ranking has been against the grain during the majority of encounters in the unforgiving Northern Hemisphere. Continuing to buck the trend, however, the Jackaroos then went on to drop five ends straight to see the match all level at 10-10. “We were a bit patchy today,” National Assistant Coach Robbie Dobbins said. “Great start by the boys, then we went to sleep for a bit, but thankfully the alarm went off eventually.” A couple of good ends saw the gap open up to 14-10, with Australia taking the rest in its stride. Powering through to a 19-10 lead heading into the last end, the Aussies managed only one more shot but took comfort in a 10 shot final margin. “It’s always good to get the win, but we can still improve,” Dobbins said. “I don’t think we can afford to fade in and out against some of the other teams.” The team will now turn its attention to an all important clash against a quality Malaysian outfit later this evening at 6:45pm local time (3.45am AEST). The women’s triples encounter turned out to be a David v Goliath affair, with our three world champions pitted against a relative newcomer to the sport of bowls, India. Despite having never medalled in the sport at the Commonwealth Games, India were relentless in their attack, with neither team giving an inch. On the 10th end the Aussie team of Lynsey Armitage, Karen Murphy and Kelsey Cottrell pinched two shots to regain the lead during the see-sawing affair. Clarke peppered the jack all day long and had the measure of her opposition lead, but it was an even contest otherwise, and on the 11th end India pinched a shot to fight back to equal pegging. On 12 the Australian team took one, back to 10-9 and so the pattern went. Heading to the last end Australia had opened up a two shot lead, which although comforting, wasn’t enough to ease the pressure. Quite fittingly, the match went down to Cottrell’s final bullet with India holding two shots. It was millimetres off line and although it made contact with the opposition’s bowl, it couldn’t dislodge it and the Indian team held on to draw 13-13. The emotion was too much for the bowlers from India who cried tears – a mixture joy and relief – even before the match had finished. “We played pretty good really, just unfortunate we couldn’t salvage the win on the last end,” National Coach Steve Glasson said. “In a perfect world we would have had the win – the draw keeps us alive, but it keeps India in there too.” Australia will look to make amends against Jersey in today’s last session. The third rubber featuring Australia was the para-sport bowlers with a disability triples. Proceedings commenced slowly on the televised broadcast rink at Kelvingrove. Blustery and cool conditions made things difficult, but South Africa acclimatised far better to the elements. The Springboks blasted their way to 0-11 margin after six ends, with Australia’s combination of Tim Slater, Tony Bonnell and James Reynolds working their way back into the contest but unable to sufficiently claw back the deficit. A count of four on the second last end put the match beyond doubt, although the Aussies did manage a consolation shot on the last end to see the final score settle at 9-21. “We were outplayed today, just too many narrow ones,” Para-sport Coach Kelvin Kerkow said. “It’s a good rink to play on, there’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, it’s pretty much perfect. “We had some nerves out there definitely but it was a good learning experience for the boys.” Given the small section …
