National crown NSW bound
Tomorrow’s $30,000 Australian Indoor Championships women’s final positions have been confirmed, and regardless of the result, the crown will be headed to NSW and placed on a maiden winner. In what’s set to be a blockbuster ultimate decider, two powerhouse bowls club representatives will square off for the $6,000 winner’s cheque, with 17 year-old St Johns Park junior ace Jamie-Lee Worsnop securing the last spot this afternoon against Cabramatta’s former Scottish international Kay Moran. Moran blasted her way to a a gritty 10-7 first set, and an emphatic 15-1 second set to prevail over Tasmania’s Carol Bannister in the 9.00 semi-final. The pint sized international is now just one win away from following in the footsteps of six-time Australian Indoor Championships winner, close friend and Cabramatta teammate Karen Murphy. “I’ll be trying for her, I’ll certainly give it my best shot,” Moran said. “But I will have to play much better if I’ve got any chance in the final. “I’ll definitely have to find my stride and get away early, I need to step it up.” She will be pushed to the limit by someone widely regarded as one of the sport’s best young prospects. Worsnop produced a career defining victory against Tweed Head’s Australian Jackaroos squad member Kristy Thatcher, who boasted a home ground advantage and touch of local knowledge going into the 2.00pm semi-final elimination. But Worsnop wasn’t to be outdone, earning a 5-10, 7-6, 2-1 victory after delivering a final bowl bomb, driving the jack to the ditch and pocketing the win on the measure. At just 17 years of age, Worsnop has already accomplished a feat that the vast majority of bowlers in the nation haven’t, which total more than 500,000 registered members, progressing down to the final of a televised national event. “I just had to back myself to get that last shot,” Worsnop said. “I was really nervous so I’m just so relieved now. “I’ve just got to stick to my own game plan and stay focused tomorrow.” Club Helensvale’s Brett Wilkie has secured safe passage to another Australian Indoor Championships ultimate decider after narrowly overcoming fellow Gold Coaster Steve Halmai in this afternoon’s 11.00am men’s semi-final. Wilkie, who claimed the crown in 2010, went one step further than his 2012 effort, where he fell short in the semi to eventual champion and club teammate Mark Casey, but it wasn’t without a challenge. With little separating either player in a match worthy of being the final, Halmai, a former Indoor and Outdoor English representative, mitigated Wilkie’s relentless attack in the first set, splitting it 6-6, but succumbed late in the last, 6-9. “Steve played a great game and it was looking like it might be two tied sets at one stage, but I was lucky enough to just get that break towards the end and hang on to it,” Wilkie said. “This is one of the major events on the Bowls Australia calendar and the one everyone wants to win. “To win it once was a privilege but to win it twice would be something really special.” Wilkie will now meet the winner of tomorrow morning’s 9.00am second men’s semi-final between reigning National Champion of Champion, and former English representative, David Holt and Wilkie’s APL Perth Suns teammate Clive Adams. Caption: Jamie-Lee Worsnop is through to her first national final.
