Australian Sides Championships – Day 4
Played Sunday, 12th April at Yokine Districts Bowling Club Matthew Ellul finished the Australian Sides Championships on a high with a 21-19 win over Jackaroo Mark Casey. Ellul’s rink was Western Australia’s best performed with four wins and three losses over the four days of intense competition at Yokine Districts Bowling Club.
Rain again played a part in the proceedings as players had to battle the uncomfortable conditions as well as each other for the fourth straight day. Ellul jumped to 10-1 lead early on, with WA leading on all three rinks. However, with only pride on the line Queensland came storming back as Casey picked up a rare seven while Commonwealth Games medalists Nathan Rice and Brett Wilkie, once in the lead, never looked like surrendering their advantage over Clive Adams and Thomas Mitchell respectively.
Lead Trystan Smallacombe was a standout and capped a fine tournament while Ellul, too, continued to come up trumps in key moments ably supported by Luke Richardson and Daniel Patterson. Unfortunately their performance was overshadowed somewhat as Adams went down 13-21 with Mitchell also suffering his fourth loss, 13-25, Queensland convincing 65-47 to winners.
The news did not get any better on the Women’s side of the draw as Australian captain Lynsey Clarke enjoyed a 19-10 over Lisa Featherby. Despite a 13-27 loss, Therese Hastings’ rink comprising Noelene Abe, Linda Warburton and lead Shenayde Heldt finished as WA’s best performed. Kristina Krstic led 11-7 halfway through her battle with Jane Bush but the young gun eventually went down 12-23; Queensland’s 69-35 win saw them finish in second place.
Krstic and Mitchell, both with two wins and a draw, were able to celebrate individual success having been awarded the Beryl Godfrey and Eddy-Wishart medals as the Best Player of the Australian Sides Championships. At the same time, 182-Test veteran Hastings chose the home series to call a close to her stellar career, retiring from State representative duties after making her debut back in 2000.
Elsewhere, New South Wales’ Women made it seven wins from seven starts to claim the Marj Morris Trophy for a record fourth-straight time. The NSW Men also got the job done against the Northern Territory but had resigned themselves to a silver medal finish after yesterday’s loss to South Australia in the penultimate round. However, SA’s shock one-shot loss to the Australian Capital Territory after maintaining a healthy lead all morning, saw NSW win the Alley Shield on a countback of 15 and a half rink wins to 14.
For full rink scores, please click here
Caption: Therese Hastings retires from State duty after 182 caps. Photo courtesy of Bowls Australia
