Blackjacks four blitz all-comers for gold

New Zealand bowls great Peter Bellis claims he has ‘‘never seen a team that was so dominant’’ as the Blackjacks’ gold medal winning men’s four.

Skip Ali Forsyth celebrated an early birthday present when he joined with Mike Nagy, Mike Kernaghan and Blake Signal to collect New Zealand’s first gold medal at the 2016 World Bowls tournament.

Nelson-raised Melbourne-based Forsyth, who turns 37 today, showed his ability as a world-class shot player to lead the Kiwis to a 23-4 rout of Mark Casey’s Australian team in a final, which finished three ends early.

Belliss, a three-time world champion, was coaching the Kiwi four and said they had set a new benchmark at Burnside Bowling Club in Christchurch yesterday.

‘‘Look at the scores they put up, they were just phenomenal. I’ve never seen, at this level, a team that was so dominant.’’

Bellis said the Blackjacks’ deserved huge plaudits for restricting ‘‘some quality sides’’, Scotland in the semifinal and Australia in the final to ‘‘only three or four shots’’.

‘‘It’s the stuff dreams are made of. I think they were 185 shots up for the 11 games they played this week, that’s just incredible."

New Zealand have two more gold medal chances today – Shannon McIlroy in the men’s singles final and Jo Edwards and Angela Boyd in the the women’s pairs title against Wales.