French to fore in Mat Blacks’ victory
DUNEDIN indoor bowler Daniel French and his New Zealand teammates rule the region again.
The Mat Blacks claimed victory in the transtasman clash in Ballarat at the weekend.
New Zealand beat Australia on points (3531), wins (17.515.5) and ends (301287).
The test was played over three days with each country picking seven men and seven women to compete over multiple disciplines.
French, the Otago kingpin, held the men’s singles spot for the New Zealand team and joined Simon Thomas and Michael Lawson in the men’s triples.
Matched with Australian singles star Ian Ogilvie in each morning session over the threeday test, French then joined his triples teammates for afternoon matches against Shane Cashill, Errol Weir and Angus Young, who shares a name with the AC/ DC founder and was left thunderstruck by the dominant Kiwi team.
French opened with two singles losses, 2420 and 1817, the latter a heartbreaker as he dropped two shots on the last end.
The Dunedin bowler had his revenge on the final day with a 2119 win. That helped the Mat Blacks come from behind to claim the trophy.
They had trailed Australia 2321 after day two, having been tied 1111 after day one.
The Mat Blacks swept the floor in the morning session of the final day, winning every game to take control of the overall match.
French, Thomas and Lawson then completed a perfect week in the triples. They beat the Australian trio 2915 on the final day, to go with 2911 and 2112 wins.
The only other Mat Black to finish with a perfect record was Waikato bowler Teri Blackbourn, who won all three women’s singles matches.
It was the first transtasman clash, thanks to Covid, since the New Zealanders won 3432 in Invercargill in 2019. The rivals will meet in New Zealand in 2024.