State Teams head North
The National Sides Series has finally arrived with the Western Australian state team set to take on the nation’s best in Darwin this week.
The event will be held at two clubs in Darwin and Nightcliffe and will unusually be played fully on synthetic greens.
The WA side will arrive in the Northern Territory on Tuesday before beginning their campaign against Tasmania on Wednesday afternoon.
The women’s side will be looking to continue building after two solid performances in the last two series. Their hopes will once again be led by Kristina Krstic who won five of her seven games last year. The team is boosted by the return of Noelene Abe following her late withdrawal last year. The five-time Connie Hicks Brooch winner will take a rink on her return.
Linda Warburton and Robyn Jolly also come back into the side after a period on the sidelines adding some experience to the front end. Going out of the side are Kelli Wray, Rhonda Prosser and Shenayde Heldt who will compete for the Northern Territory.
WA will play the two favourites in New South Wales and Queensland consecutively, one on Friday afternoon and one Saturday morning.
The Men will be looking to improve on their two wins in 2017 after pushing most of the big sides deep into their matches. The retirement of Pieter Harris has left a void at skipper which will be filled by Cody Packer who comes up after leading last year.
Daniel Patterson and Cory Bessant have also come out of the team while Scott Walker and David Rankin earn recalls. Anthony Williams will also come in to make his WA debut.
The Men face a number of challenges with at least five sides considered in the running to win the Alley Shield. Traditional powers Queensland and New South Wales as well as defending champions South Australia loom as a difficult challenge in last three games of the campaign.
The first games get underway at 12pm WST on Wednesday with games on right through until Saturday evening.
Full teams and results can be viewed via our Australian Sides Series Results Page
For more information visit the Bowls Australia Website at Australian Sides Championships
