2025 Trans Tasman: Day 1 recap
After almost a year, the Right at Home Jackaroos were back in action against the New Zealand Blackjacks at the 2025 Trans Tasman with a tight day of bowls ensuing with four of the five competitions sitting on a knife’s edge at Naenae.
Open men – Australia 3-3 New Zealand
Each of the sessions were split evenly between the two countries with birthday boy Lee Schraner marking his international comeback by skipping his fours rink consisting of Corey Wedlock, Aaron Teys and Carl Healey to a pair of victories in the first and third sessions respectively.
Wedlock, Schraner and Healey could not quite maintain a perfect record for the day, going down 21-12 against Tony Grantham, Finbar McGuigan and Keanu Darby in the triples.
Aaron Wilson’s fortunes were a little different, suffering a pair of defeats in singles play to a rampant Shannon McIlroy, but he and Teys were able to rebound in the pairs, overcoming McIlroy and Ali Forsyth 11-4 5-5 in the middle session.
It was a grand occasion for Teys, going unblemished on the same day that he notched up his 200th international appearance.
Open women – Australia 3-3 New Zealand
Like the men, each session was evenly shared between the two nations as Dawn Hayman commenced her day with an 8-4 7-6 win over Tayla Bruce, while Kristina Krstic, Chloe Stewart, Natasha Van Eldik and Kelsey Cottrell fell 14-10 in a tight fours contest.
Stewart, Van Eldik and Cottrell would rebound strongly in session two as they ran out 19-12 winners over Leeane Poulson, Tayla Bruce and Val Smith in the triples as Briar Atkinson and Selina Goddard came from behind to edge Krstic and Hayman 5-7 9-2 3-1.
Bruce would gain the ascendancy over Hayman in the concluding session, clinching a crucial 3-6 11-3 3-2 win, while the fours team recorded a vital and comprehensive win to end the day even with their New Zealand counterparts.
Para – Australia 3-3 New Zealand
The opening session saw New Zealand take two of the three clashes, with Australia’s world championship winning pair of Damien Delgado and James Reynolds keeping the away nation in the tie thanks to a 7-6 6-5 win over Kurt Smith and Mark Noble.
In the second session, it was the Jackaroos who gained the upper hand, winning two of the matchups with the mixed B6-B8 pairs and the vision impaired duo of Jacky Hudson and Jake Fehlberg enjoying a victory.
Australia A v New Zealand Development – Men – Australia leads New Zealand 6-0
It was a perfect day for Australia A on the outside greens of Naenae, going undefeated in all six contests across the day.
Kane Nelson continued his good form, dropping just one set in two singles victories against Aiden Takarua while also recording a 20-12 triples win with Nick Cahill and Cody Packer.
Nathan Black and Ben Twist clinched a straight sets win in the pairs and teamed up with Cahill and Packer to manufacture two closely fought fours wins.
Australia A v New Zealand Development – Women – Australia 3-3 New Zealand
Like the open men, open women and paras, the Australia A women sit evenly poised with their counterparts after a franetic Friday.
Cassandra Millerick enjoyed a first up singles win over Lisa Prideaux before the latter rebounded in brilliant fashion in the final session.
Brianna Smith and Jamie-Lee Worsnop fell just short in their pairs matchup but managed to secure a vital fours with Kylie Lavis and Jessie Cottell victory in the morning before going down in the afternoon matchup.
Millerick, Lavis and Cottell saluted in their only triples match of the day, defeating Caitlin Thomson, Prideaux and Natasha Russell 20-12.
The 2025 Trans Tasman runs from January 31-February 2, 2025 at the Naenae Bowling Club with live streaming on Bowls New Zealand’s YouTube channel. View the event programme and schedule HERE.