2023 World Bowls Championships: Day Five Recap
Five gold medals were spread across four countries as the first day of 2023 World Bowls Championships finals action took place at Helensvale on Saturday.
Conditions were near perfect for bowls, with the sun blazing and greens running quickly in true Gold Coast fashion.
Five finals took place on Saturday, as well as semi finals in the women’s singles competition.
Women’s Fours – England def Australia 14-7
England are women’s fours champions for the third time, and for the first time since 2004 after defeating Australia in dominant fashion.
The English quartet looked comfortable on the quick Helensvale green 3 on Saturday morning, starting the better of the two sides to lead 4-0 after three ends.
The Jackaroos bounced back thanks to some Kelsey Cottrell magic to lead 6-4 after six ends, but it was all England from that point.
Lorraine Kuhler was superb at third, playing perfectly timed weighted shots and precision draw bowls to give England an edge.
Her teammates came along for the ride and helped steer the English ahead and to an eventual title.
Amy Pharaoh adds a second fours title to her CV, having been part of the triumphant team at Leamington Spa in 2004.
The win flips the script from the 2016 final, with Australia defeating England on that ocassion.
Gold: Sophie Tolchard, Jamie-Lea Marshall, Lorraine Kuhler & Amy Pharaoh (England)
Silver: Kristina Krstic, Dawn Hayman, Lynsey Clarke & Kelsey Cottrell (Australia)
Bronze: Leeane Poulson, Selina Goddard, Val Smith & Katelyn Inch (New Zealand)
Bronze: Carla Banks, Claire Anderson, Stacey McDougall & Caroline Brown (Scotland)
Men’s Pairs – Ireland def Australia 19-11
Similarly to the women’s fours, Ireland turned the tables on Australia to claim an historic men’s pairs crown.
After suffering defeat at the hands of Aaron Wilson and Australia in 2016, Gary Kelly teamed up with Adam McKeown to defeat Wilson and teammate Aaron Teys to claim gold.
McKeown was sensational as lead in the final, giving Kelly plenty of bowls in the head to make life difficult for Wilson.
Australia led early, taking a 3-1 advantage before Ireland went on to score 12 of the next 13 shots.
Teys and Wilson threw everything they had at the Irish, but their opponents had all the answers, going on to finish the match with one end to spare.
It marks Ireland’s first world championships gold since 2004, and only their second ever men’s pairs title.
Ireland’s preparation paid dividends with the win, with their squad making several trips to Australia prior to the world championships to acclimatise to the conditions. Kelly and McKeown also base themselves in Australia, capitalising on their knowledge of the greens.
Gold: Adam McKeown & Gary Kelly (Ireland)
Silver: Aaron Teys & Aaron Wilson (Australia)
Bronze: John Bezear & Ryan Bester (Canada)
Bronze: Izzat Shameer Bin Dzukeple & Muhammad Soufi Bin Rusli (Malaysia)
Men’s Triples – Australia def Scotland 17-8
The Australians boasted one gold medallist in Aron Sherriff with both Corey Wedlock and Carl Healey looking for their maiden titles, while Scotland’s Paul Foster MBA and Alex Marshall MBE strived to earn more silverware in their illustrious careers with their teammate Derek Oliver aiming for his first World Championships gold.
The Jackaroos trio put on one of the more perfect team performances, racing away to an 8-1 lead after five ends to put immediate pressure on the Scots.
Short ends were the key as Healey ensured his chargers placed the jack up the rink and relied on their touch and feel to surge ahead, with the Club Helensvale greens flying through late in the day.
Having just dropped three ends from the first ten, the trio were all in sync as the front end precision of Wedlock and Sherriff ensured that Marshall would be forced to play difficult bowls to get his team out of trouble.
Scotland’s first and only multiple came on end eleven, with the Australians continuing to respond with two of their own in the ensuing ends thanks to some sensational back end bowling from Healey and an unlucky nudge of the jack from Marshall.
Ultimately, the contest would end with an end to spare as the green and gold notched up the country’s first men’s triples gold medal since the inaugural World Bowls Championships in 1966.
Wedlock and Healey end the day with a maiden gold, while Sherriff joins Brett Wilkie as the only male jackaroos with two titles.
Gold: Corey Wedlock, Aron Sherriff & Carl Healey (Australia)
Silver: Paul Foster, Derek oliver & Alex Marshall (Scotland)
Bronze: Stuart Bennet, Ian McClure & Martin McHugh (Ireland)
Bronze: Louis Ridout, Nick Brett & Jamie Walker (England)
Para VI Mixed Pairs – Australia def South Africa 16-14
History was on the line as the first ever para gold medal was to be decided with this contest between Australia and South Africa in a battle of the most in-form vision impaired teams in the world.
Having lost their past two matches to May Homer and Herman Scholtz, the Jackaroos’ Jacky Hudson and Jake Fehlberg managed to break a tight match open to stride out to a seven shot lead just after the half way point of the match.
Hudson and her director Rob were on song in the lead battle against Homer and her husband Paul, while Fehlberg and his brother Cody were adapting to varying lengths with perfection and drawing to the ditch superbly to pick up a three on the sixth end.
However, there was a twist in the tale as Homer began to gain an advantage in the leading contest, while Scholtz and his director Geoffrey Newcombe converted some sublime shots to take an unlikely lead with two ends to go.
The Australians levelled proceedings with an end to play to send the match to a twelve bowl shootout for gold, and Hudson was straight on the money to give Fehlberg the perfect setup for the rest of the end as he added a second that would remain as the Jackaroos created history.
It was a maiden gold for both and Fehlberg became the first para bowler in history to achieve a Commonwealth Games and World Bowls Championships double.
Gold: Jacky Hudson, Rob Hudson (dir), Jake Fehlberg & Cody Fehlberg (dir) (Australia)
Silver: May Homer, Paul Homer (dir) Herman Scholtz & Geoffrey Newcombe (dir) (South Africa)
Bronze: Melanie Inness, George Miller (dir), Robert Barr & Sarah Jane Ewing (dir) (Scotland)
Bronze: Alison Yearling, Jane Herbert (dir), Stephen Hartley & Isaac Shieh (dir)
Para Women’s Pairs – New Zealand def Scotland 14-8
On greens with similar conditions to home New Zealand’s Julie O’Connell and Teri Blackbourn strived to translate topping their section into the first ever para women’s pairs gold medal, while Scotland’s Rosemary Lenton and Pauline Wilson looked to become the first para duo to win the Comm Games and World Championships back-to-back.
There was no splitting the teams after eight ends, levelled at 5-5 with both seeming comfortable on the quick Club Helensvale greens, before a double to the Blackjacks in the ninth set up another two multiples as they raced out to a 12-5 buffer in no time.
Consistency across long ends was the key as O’Connell gained control of the lead battle and Blackbourn began to zone in on the jack from the skips position.
There was no catching the New Zealanders as the duo who only met for the first time in March saluted in the biggest match of their careers.
Gold: Julie O’Connell & Teri Blackbourn (New Zealand)
Silver: Rosemary Lenton & Pauline Wilson (Scotland)
Bronze: Bualai Kuntong & Somwang Chamnanpana (Thailand)
Bronze: Cheryl Lindfield & Serena Bonnell (Australia)
Women’s Singles
New Zealand’s Tayla Bruce will face off against Canada’s Kelly McKerihen in the women’s singles final after a thrilling round of semi finals.
Bruce will have the opportunity to add to her World Champion of Champions crown on Sunday after a memorable win over Australia’s Ellen Ryan.
Bruce took the early lead against the 2022 Commonwealth Games singles champion, before the score levelled up at 10-10.
It was then that Bruce made her charge, collecting 11 of the next 13 shots to book a spot in the final.
She meets McKerihen who could not have had a closer semi.
Taking on England’s Katherine Rednall, the lead yo-yo’d between the two throughout the contest, before reaching 20-20 with a one-end shootout for a spot in the final.
McKerihen took the honours as she vies for a maiden world championship crown.
The pair will meet at Helensvale on Sunday from about 12pm AEST.
Final: Tayla Bruce (New Zealand) v Kelly McKerihen (Canada)
Week one of play concludes on Sunday, with the men’s para pairs final between Australia and South Africa from 9am and the women’s singles final between New Zealand’s Tayla Bruce and Canada’s Kelly McKerihen at about 12:30pm AEST.
View the day five results HERE
Day six of play commences from 9am AEST at Helensvale on Sunday.
The 2023 World Bowls Championships is proudly supported by Tourism and Events Queensland and Major Events Gold Coast.
