Jackaroos take the lead against England
The Australian Jackaroos have taken the early lead against England, with just one more session remaining to round out the first test at Broadbeach. Fortuitously, the inclement Gold Coast weather hasn’t affected the Australia v England test series, with the raining hitting Broadbeach as the players made their way inside for the lunch break, and by resumption of the second session, it had slowed to a drizzle and no time was lost.
The men’s teams games started with a flurry of scoring to the Australians, while the singles result was in England’s favour for the first half.
The fours team skipped by Aron Sherriff flew to an early advantage and with quality bowls in the head, it was tailor made for big numbers, the final result 23-8.
Brett Wilkie and Barrie Lester teamed up in what was a tight match to the eye, but an early scoreboard advantage allowed them to control proceedings as they safely held the opposition at bay for a 17-11 victory.
In just his second international appearance, following his debut earlier this morning, Scott Thulborn produced a remarkable come from behind win.
Seemingly down and out, Thulborn drew from his never say die attitude, overcoming an early 4-15 deficit to produce a 21-18 victory.
The women’s contingent were led by current world champion Karen Murphy taking a commanding lead early and turning it into a 21-14 victory over Natalie Chestney.
Rebecca Van Asch led her team of debutant Ellen Ryan, birthday girl Carla Krizanic and Natasha Scott to a huge 27-6 win.
This win was emphasised by large scores of seven and six over the last two ends.
The pairing of Kristina Krstic and Lynsey Clarke were well held early, but fought back bravely, eventually succumbing by just two shots.
It was always going to be a difficult task, coming from 3-17 down, but the duo tried valiantly in the second half of the contest and only just failed to reel in their opponents, the end score being 17-19.
The ladder at the end of the second session sees Australia have the ascendency with four additional match victories, to lead 16-8 points, with the final round of the opening day’s test underway at Broadbeach.
