Australian women’s APL dream teams
With APL03 just around the corner, have you considered who your dream team would be or which franchise you will be cheering for in the third installment of the revolutionary event? With the Australian Premier League just around the corner, have you thought about your dream APL team?
Is your dream team playing in the competition this year or if you were a franchise owner would you mix and match players from different teams or even bring in a few blasts from the past?
When giving the Australian women’s team, who were recently selected for the 2015 Asia Pacific Championships, the creative control to name their dream teams, the five ladies naturally had varying ideas of what players were needed to form an unbeatable side for the revolutionary APL competition.
Each player took a different approach to picking their team, some combined past and present greats, some tactically chose indoor champions to take to the carpet at Club Pine Rivers whilst others picked the biggest names in the sport to form a formidable side!
Victoria’s Carla Odgers wasted no time in choosing her dream team; she went for a Solargain Perth Suns star and two members of APL02 winning franchise the Murray Steamers.
“Firstly I’d select Clive Adams because he is hilarious to watch and has the best time out on the green, Alex Marshall because he is an absolute bowling freak and was fantastic to watch last year and lastly Ryan Bester because who doesn’t want someone on their team who can smash bare jacks like he does,” said Australia’s lead in the triples and fours.
Australia’s most capped international bowler Karen Murphy knows the Club Pine River’s surface well and loves the APL format after competing in the first two instalments for the BCiB Sydney Lions.
Murphy would put her faith in a good friend and current APL player Kelvin Kerkow from the Brisbane Gold; whilst she also chose two international raiders from Scotland, Alex Marshall MBE and his good friend Paul Foster to form her APL dream team.
St Johns Parks’ Anne Johns had a common theme in her dream team; Johns originates from Scotland and represented her home country in National Under-25 events before moving to Australia and has selected her APL dream team full of Scotland’s best indoor players past and present.
“Firstly Alex Marshall because he is the best bowler in the world and freakish on the carpet, secondly Richard Corsie because he was the best bowler on the carpet in his era and last but not least David Gourley, once again because he was a freak on the carpet and great to watch,” said Johns.
Australian skip Natasha Scott kept things simple and selected the three most in form bowlers from around the world; three-time International Bowler of the Year Aron Sherriff, the man widely regarded as the world’s best bowler Alex Marshall MBE and her fellow Australian Bowler of the Year Ryan Bester.
Bowls Australia’s annual Hall of Fame and Awards Night is next week (October 29) at the Mantra Legends in Surfers Paradise where Natasha Scott and Ryan Bester will be awarded their $3000 cheque courtesy of Aero Bowls for taking out the Australian Bowler of the Year award at the conclusion of the first official year under Bowls Australia’s new rankings system.
Kelsey Cottrell, who will lead for Murphy in the pairs and play second for Scott in the fours at next month’s Asia Pacific Championships, had one player different to her Australian team mates whilst also chose two of the world’s best.
“After last year’s performance you couldn’t go past Alex Marshall for a dream team; I’d also choose Jeremy Henry because of all his success on indoor in the past few years and lastly I’d pick Australia’s singles representative Aron Sherriff to lead up for the two internationals,” said Cottrell.
APL03 kicks off on November 10 at Club Pine Rivers with the Murray Steamers aiming to be the first team to win back-to-back APL titles.
There will be six rookies entering the competition for the first time whilst greats of the game will also line up for one of the eight competing franchises.
If you can’t make it to Club Pine River’s you can watch over four hours of live bowls on Fox Sports and Sky Sports NZ each night of the four day long competition and hear guest commentary from Brisbane-based comedian Ed Kavalee, APL’s new ambassador.
For more information about the Australian Premier League including all the competing players and coaches, visit the website www.australianpremierleague.com.au
