Edwards leads way at Burnside
Commonwealth gold medallist Jo Edwards put on a stunning display in the women’s singles at the second trans-Tasman bowls test at Burnside to defeat Australia’s Chloe Stewart in both of the matches on day two.
Despite another day of damp, cold, windy conditions Edwards asserted her control over the rubber early on, and even though Stewart scored two on two consecutive ends to mount a comeback, the Kiwi bowler held firm to take the win 21-10 in the morning. In the afternoon it was more of the same, with a 21-14 victory over the Aussie youngster.
It wasn’t all wins for Edwards though. The Nelson player didn’t have as much luck in her pairs as she and Canterbury’s Sandra Keith trailed for most of the match and finally went down 18-11.
While the women’s test remains alive the Australian men have already wrapped up the open trophy and with victory from the first two tests, the Australians are certain to get a fourth consecutive overall trans-Tasman title.
Another Nelson representative Ali Forsyth couldn’t repeat his singles success of Wednesday afternoon. He was level with opponent Brett Wilkie until the 23rd end, but disaster struck as Wilkie picked up a four in the final end to win the game 21-16. Forsyth didn’t have much luck in the second session either as he and his team mates Shannon McIlroy and Tony Grantham were outplayed, as the Aussies picked up another 21-18 victory.
Forsyth mirrored the morning match in the final session as he and Wilkie traded shots and kept the game all square with Forsyth using his driving play to save vital points and keep himself in contention.
In the end it was a shot here and there that got Wilkie a hard-earned win.
The men’s pairs combination of Andrew Kelly and Mike Nagy, after drawing their final match on Wednesday, were six-all on the ninth end against their Australian counterparts. However they failed capitalise on opportunities late in the game and finished losing 13-17.
In the triples, Mandy Boyd and her team of Tayla Bruce and Val Smith recovered from a battering on Wednesday to win a close match, and taste their first success. They had a 17-9 lead after 14 ends but then had to watch as Kelsey Cotterell and her team chipped away at their lead. Australia didn’t have quite enough though, as the Black Jacks women managed to hold them off to take the win 18-15.
In their first game the Black Jacks men’s fours played catchup for most of the game and narrowly lost 12-13, but it wasn’t so close later in the day, where they took a 12-19 battering.
And despite the BlackJacks women’s four picking up a six on one end they couldn’t peg back the Australians who took the first game 20-14.
The Kiwis managed to haul one back in closing out the day with a 16-11 win to keep the women’s open competition alive.
Having already wrapped up the men’s open trophy and with victory in the first two tests, the Australians are certain to get a fourth consecutive overall transTasman victory no matter what the results from the final round of games on Friday.