Australia draws first blood Trans Tasman
Australia has drawn first blood at the 2015 Trans Tasman in Christchurch, firing an ominous warning shot to its New Zealand opponents with a powerful opening test performance.
The green and gold continent wrapped up the first of the three test series in the open field courtesy of a four-out-of-six rubber victory in the women’s event, combined with four wins and a draw in the men.
Australia enjoyed a stellar opening session to commence proceedings, cleaning sweeping the men’s and women’s pairs and triples matches, before New Zealand rebounded in the afternoon session to claim wins in the both gender’s blue-ribbon singles disciplines, while the Jackaroos continued to ply their trade with victories in the fours.
The third session saw Australia post comprehensive results in both triples, while the men’s pairs team of Brett Wilkie and Aron Sherriff fought off defeat to salvage a 14-all draw, but Chloe Stewart and Anne Johns were unable to replicate their earlier heroics, which gave Stewart a maiden victory on debut, falling short of the Blackjacks’ Sandra Keith and Jo Edwards 15-19.
The Jackaroos women finished the test ahead on the ledger 4-2 (0 shots), while the men swept up the first test 4.5-1.5 (+ 41 shots).
“The conditions are not very Australian like – but we’re getting used to it,” Cottrell said after securing her third successive win.
“Everyone is really coping with the conditions quite well, they’re definitely quite challenging but both countries are in the same boat.
“It’s not just our game that we’re concerned about when we’re on the green, we’re looking across the rinks and seeing the other teams doing battle, so we’re giving it everything, cause we’re playing for an overall Trans Tasman trophy out here.
“We’re going to be a really happy team tonight but there’s still two more days to go, so we won’t get to ahead of ourselves.”
In the development event, which features a mix of under-18, under-25 and open age players, the men’s event could not be split in wins or shots after the dust had settled on the six rubbers.
In a fiercely contested tug of war battle, each nation prevailed in one of the two matches for each session, with Australia’s wins coming from the men’s triples, men’s singles and then men’s pairs.
The news wasn’t all bad for New Zealand though, who took the spoils from the development women’s first test, 4-2 (+8 shots).
The Kiwis’ girls produced emphatic victories in the first four matches to all but sew up the test result, but to Australia’s credit, they gritted their teeth and got on with the job to earn wins in both the evening pairs and triples rubbers, 18-16 and 22-7 respectively.
The second test will continue at Burnside Bowls Club tomorrow, with live streaming of the women’s singles from 7.00am AEDT, the men’s triples from 10.15am and the men’s singles from 1.00pm.
Test one results:
Session 1:
Open women
Pairs – Aust 15 def NZ 13
Triples – Aust 15 def NZ 13
Open men
Pairs – Aust 23 def NZ 10
Triples – Aust 22 def NZ 9
Development women
Pairs – Aust 13 lost to NZ 22
Triples – Aust 16 lost to NZ 17
Development men
Pairs- Aust 6 lost to NZ 20
Triples- Aust 19 def NZ 12
Session 2:
Open women
Singles – Aust 12 v NZ 21
Fours – Aust 15 v NZ 12
Open men
Singles – Aust 19 v NZ 21
Fours – Aust 16 v NZ 14
Development women
Singles – Aust 14 v NZ 21
Fours- Aust 9 v NZ 17
Development men
Singles – Aust 21 v NZ 10
Fours – Aust 16 v NZ 18
Session 3:
Open women
Pairs – Aust 15 v NZ 19
Triples – Aust 22 v NZ 16
Aust win 1st test 4 – 2 (0 shots)
Open Men
Pairs – Aust 14 v NZ 14
Triples – Aust 26 v 11
Aust win 1st test 4.5 – 1.5 (+ 41 shots)
Development Women
Pairs – Aust 18 v NZ 16
Triples – Aust 22 v NZ 7
Aust lost 1st test 2 – 4 (- 8 shots)
Development Men
Pairs – Aust 19 v NZ 18
Triples – …
