Four straight wins for the Jackaroos
The Australian Jackaroos are on a roll, with four victories from as many starts in the fifth round of the World Bowls Championships in New Zealand. The Australian Jackaroos contingent have hit their straps at the World Bowls Championships, securing four victories in this afternoon’s fifth round; their first straight sets win of all disciplines.
A defiant Karen Murphy has thrown the women’s singles race wide open, after edging out Canada’s then-undefeated Kelly McKerihen in a blockbuster encounter.
Murphy, who is the discipline’s defending titleholder, secured her fourth victory of the tournament against first-placed McKerihen 21-19 in this afternoon’s fifth round, but wasn’t quite able to take her place at the top of the table.
There’s now a logjam of contenders at the top, with Murphy’s win also opening the door for Netherlands’ Saskia Schaft and New Zealand’s Jo Edwards, with just a matter of shots now separating the four.
Schaft now leads the section with a 40 shot margin, 3 clear of Edwards, who is 1 shot better positioned than Murphy, while McKerihen has slid back to fourth spot with just 22 shots in the black.
There should be some breathing room at the top of the leaderboard after the next round, the last scheduled for today, with Schaft and McKerihen set to square off, while Murphy faces Wales’ fifth-placed Laura Daniels.
Murphy’s compatriots galvinised after a slight reordering of the line-up, which saw Kelsey Cottrell moved up the order to provide opening fire power and Natasha Scott given the skip’s duties.
After dropping the past two matches, in addition to their first, the move paid immediate dividends, with the team recording a 21-11 victory against Hong Kong China.
The team need to continue to string together wins in order to progress to Friday’s post-sectional matches, given they are two wins off New Zealand and Wales’ lead, with their next task coming in the form of Ireland.
In the men’s event, the triples team of Barrie Lester, Mark Casey and Aron Sherriff took another step towards the post-sectional rounds, with a 21-10 win against Malaysia.
The talented trio have a one-point overall lead against the host-nation, courtesy of an opening round draw, and are set to tackle eighth-placed Namibia this afternoon to round out the second day of play.
Despite a 19-10 win against Fiji, the men’s pairs team of Brett Wilkie and Aaron Wilson are still situated outside the top-three placings, which progress to post-sectional rounds.
The pair are currently in fourth spot, after their 1 shot upset to Singapore last round, and face Hong Kong China in round six.
Click here to view the men’s results.
Click here to see the women’s results.
Click here to go to Bowls Australia’s World Bowls Championships page.
Round 5: 10.15am – 1.15pm AEDT
Women’s singles (section 1): Australia (Karen Murphy) def Canada (Kelly McKerihen) 21-19 (Papanui)
Women’s fours (section 1): Australia (Kelsey Cottrel, Carla Krizanic, Rebecca Van Asch, Natasha Scott) def Hong Kong China (Gloria Ha, Dorothy Yu, Mercredi Yeung, Camilla Leung) 21-11 (Canterbury)
Men’s pairs (section 1): Australia (Brett Wilkie, Aaron Wilson) def Fiji (Kushal Kumar Pillay, Samuel Tuikiligana) 19-11 (Fendalton)
Men’s triples (section 1): Australia (Barrie Lester, Mark Casey, Aron Sherriff) def Malaysia (Mohamad Fairus Abd Jabal, Mohammad Syamil Syazwan Ramli, Zulhilmie Redzuan) 21-10 (Fendalton)
