#BPL11: Day 4
It was a nail-biting finish to the final two rounds of #BPL11 on Friday, with shot difference proving to be a determining factor in who would play finals.
Home-town team Murray Steamers went into the final day in top spot, but were in danger of missing finals after a comprehensive loss to Sydney Lions in their first game of the day, including a 14-1 second set loss.
After dropping the first set of their final match against the Tweed Heads Ospreys, the Steamers rallied to win the second and the tie-break, to avoid missing out on the finals and maintain top spot.
The Ospreys were unable to work their way back into the top four to get a chance to defend their BPL10 title, losing their final two games to finish at the bottom of the #BPL11 table.
The Adelaide Pioneers and Melbourne Pulse can consider themselves extremely unlucky, missing out by shot difference and net set points respectively.
Gary Kelly was unable to force a tie-break in the Pulse’s final game against the Brisbane Pirates with his final bowl, with his side falling short of another finals appearance.
The Pioneers will again have to wait for a maiden finals appearance, losing a heartbreaking tie-break to the Perth Suns in their final match to miss out on a finals spot by 11 shots, despite being level with the four-placed Melbourne Roys on match points, net set points and set points.
The Roys and Pirates will battle it out in an elimination final after scraping through in fourth and third place respectively, while the Sydney Lions will have a chance to reach yet another BPL final, facing off against the Steamers in a qualifying final after finishing second.
Perth Suns were no chance of playing finals with two rounds remaining, but found some pride with two wins to finish the competition, climbing off the bottom and into seventh spot with six wins, edging out the Ospreys by net set points.
#BPL11 will go down as one of the closest ever, with just two wins separating bottom and top spots.
FINALS SCHEDULE
Elimination Final (5pm): Brisbane Pirates v Melbourne Roys
Semi Final (6:15pm): Murray Steamers v Sydney Lions
Preliminary Final (7:30pm): Winner of Elimination Final v loser of Semi Final
Final (8:45pm): Winner of Semi Final v winner of Preliminary Final
Progress results from #BPL11 below:
Round 13 –
Sydney Lions def Murray Steamers 5-4 14-1
Brisbane Pirates def by Perth Suns 2-6 7-3 0-2
Adelaide Pioneers def Melbourne Roys 1-9 7-6 2-0
Tweed Heads Ospreys def by Melbourne Pulse 2-8 5-6
Round 14 –
Brisbane Pirates def Melbourne Pulse 9-6 10-7
Perth Suns def Adelaide Pioneers 7-1 4-5 1-0
Tweed Heads Ospreys def by Murray Steamers 4-3 5-6 0-1
Sydney Lions def by Melbourne Roys 2-10 2-7
Bowls Premier League 11 – #BPL11
February 25-28, 2020
Moama Bowling Club, NSW
Day Sessions: From 11am AEDT (Stream via Bowls Australia Facebook)
Night Sessions: From 5pm AEDT (Watch live via Fox Sports, Kayo Sports & Sky Sport NZ)
Teams
Adelaide Pioneers: Wayne Ruediger, Scott Thulborn, Bec Van Asch (Coach – Les Carter)
Brisbane Pirates: Alex Marshall, Michael Breen, Kelsey Cottrell (Dave Edwards)
Melbourne Pulse: Gary Kelly, Barrie Lester, Natasha Scott (Rob Wilson)
Melbourne Roys: Aaron Wilson, Matt Flapper, Carla Krizanic (Ian Ewing)
Murray Steamers: Ryan Bester, Michael Walker*, Jo Edwards* (David Ferguson*)
Perth Suns: Lee Schraner, Cody Packer, Kristina Krstic (Ross Dempsey*)
Sydney Lions: Aron Sherriff, Ben Twist, Karen Murphy (Steve Glasson)
Tweed Heads Ospreys: Aaron Teys, Kurt Brown, Chloe Stewart (Wayne Turley)
