Porteous and Bourne through to the Semis
Sorrento’s Nerrida Porteous (skip) and Pauline Bourne (lead) are through to the semi finals of the Australian Open on the Gold Coast. Having teamed up with Wendy Dudek (second) and Lynne Browne (third), the side are currently taking on Beth Quinlan, who defeated world champion Karen Murphy in the previous round. On the other side of the draw, two sides laden with Jackaroo talent are also playing off for a spot in the lucrative final with Australian captain’s more experienced rink of Rebecca Van Asch, Ellen Ryan and Anne Johns battling out with young guns Natasha Scott, Carla Odgers and the Noronha twins, Natalie and Samantha.
Porteous breezed path Cathy Hume in the quarter-final 18-8, however, it was much closer affair in the first knockout round, up against the all-WA outfit that included State Skip Lisa Featherby and her Mosman Park team mate Linda Warburton, Robyn Jolly (Manning) and lead Diane Hudson (Dowerin). Porteous prevailed 11-10 which meant Featherby was joined by her fellow Bowls WA board member Therese Hastings (Manning) as a first round casualty having survived sectional play; also suffering the torment of a one-shot loss.
Simon Alden’s quartet comprising third Aaron Staples (Bassendean) and Alden’s Kalamunda teammates Karl Vandersluys and lead Arthur Bartlett enjoyed a memorable 16-15 win over Canada’s dual Commonwealth Games-medallist Ryan Bester and his side that included fellow Broadbeach star Sean Ingham as well as former New Zealand Internationals Gary Lawson and Peter Belliss in the 2nd knockout round.
Unfortunately they could not make it through to the quarter finals, bowing out 15-16 to Kiwi Brian Baldwin. Steve O’Neill’s experienced side consisting of Osborne Park club mate and lead Grant Nicol, Frank Carbone (Manning) and third Geoff White (Kardinya) had the tough task of taking on former Jackaroo superstar and current Australian Selector Kelvin Kerkow; the WA boys eventually going down 7-16.
Also going out in post-sectional play was South Perth’s foursome, which included WA State representative lead Scott Walker, Ryan Havercroft, Adrian Durrant and skipper Glen Pauling. Pauling’s side overcame Wangaratta’s Ian Brindlecombe 15-13, however, the Malaysian four of Izzat Syamer Dzulkeple, Muhammad Hizlee Abd Rais, Fairul Izwan Abd Muin and skip Muhammad Saufi Rusli proved a formidable outfit in Round 2; 8-19 the final score.
Please visit Bowls Australia’s website to follow all the results and fixtures from this year’s Aus Open.
