Aussies wrap up gold on greens

LAWN BOWLS: “So was it worth it?” a middle-aged father asked his two young children as they left Broadbeach Bowls Club yesterday afternoon. “Yep!” they cried in unison. They had just witnessed Australia win its first lawn bowls gold medal at a Commonwealth Games since Melbourne 2006.

Kelsey Cottrell, Carla Krizanic, Rebecca van Asch and Natasha Scott combined to beat South Africa 18-16 and claim honours in the women’s fours event on their home green.

Cottrell has been to two consecutive Commonwealth Games, winning a triples silver at Glasgow in 2014 and singles bronze at Delhi in 2010, but this was the first at which sevenand-a-half-month-old daughter Sienna was among family and friends in a big Gold Coast crowd.

“It’s a really special day and we’ve been capturing really awesome photos we’ll treasure for the rest of our lives,” Cottrell said. “This is the pinnacle for our sport.”

The home side picked up nine straight points at one stage in the match and while South Africa were able to recover, it was only briefly.

Scott, speaking just 30 minutes before she, Cottrell and van Asch returned to the green for their triples match, said the team was never comfortable.

“We knew we had to get down to basics, do what we do well and we did it today, and this proves it,” she said.

“To be able to be a gold medallist with three of your best mates, in a sport that you love, with family and friends around on home turf is unbelievable.”

Four Australians spurred Malta to its first lawn bowls medal in Commonwealth Games history, and its first medal this Gold Coast Games.

Sunshine Coast mother Rosemaree Rixon, her daughters Connie and Rebecca and Melbourne’s Sharon Callus combined to beat Canada 17-8 in the bronze medal playoff.