BPL18: Thursday recap
The traditional moving day at the Bowls Premier League (BPL) threw up some major curveballs for a few franchises as the race for the finals enters the deciding three rounds of BPL18 at Club Pine Rivers.
Two teams are almost locked in to feature on the deciding night of the competition, while the remaining three spots well and truly up for grabs.
BPL17 champions in the Moama Steamers again sit atop the table heading into Friday after clinching two victories from their three matches throughout the day.
The only blemish came against a rampant Sydney Lions outfit in the evening as the Steve Glasson OAM led squad continued their late push for finals.
Equal on wins with the Steamers are the Melbourne eXtreme, who enjoyed an unblemished day with tiebreak victories over the Perth Suns, Gold Coast Hawks and Melbourne Pulse.
Each of the salutations saw Ali Forsyth seal the win with a clutch final bowl, the finest of which coming against their crosstown rivals in the night session, bringing forth huge celebrations for the eXtreme faithful.
The Tweed Heads Ospreys were in the top two for the majority of the day before dropping their concluding clash against the Suns inn straight sets to sit in third, a win behind the leaders.
After the top trio comes the logjam, with the Hawks and Adelaide Pioneers in fourth and fifth on seven wins.
Gold Coast suffered two defeats to start the day and were made to wait until the last match of the night to rectify their morning, which they did in style by taking down the Moreton Bay Pirates in a tiebreak.
The Pioneers were able to navigate their way into the top quintet with a pair of victories to finish proceedings, a scenario that seemed highly unlikely with the franchise at just a solitary victory from the opening five matches of the tournament.
A winless day for the Tasmania Tridents sees them outside the finals at the present, with the Lions coming from the clouds to join them just a win away from fourth place.
The Pulse and Pirates are an extra victory back in eighth and ninth, needing everything to go their way over the final three rounds to feature in the post sectional rounds.
Finally, the Suns round out the table on four wins after two to conclude the day’s play.
View the BPL18 Thursday results HERE
View the BPL18 ladder HERE
BPL18 runs from November 13-17, 2023, at Club Pine Rivers with live streaming on Bowls Australia’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, as well as live broadcasts from Tuesday to Friday from 4pm until 10pm AEST on Fox, Kayo and Sky Sports NZ.
