Jackaroos on the cusp of post-sectionals
The Australia Jackaroos are on the verge of post-sectional rounds, with three of the four disciplines almost assured of advancing to an elimination final at least. The Australian Jackaroos’ destiny is in their own hands going into the final round of sectional encounters for the first four disciplines of the quadrennial World Bowls Championships.
The contingent enjoyed a further three wins, and a slender loss, in the penultimate round of matches, and are still in the top three spots of all disciplines, but in most cases, need to finish on a high in order to book direct semi-finals or post-sectional berths.
A narrow loss at the hands of New Zealand’s Jo Edwards took none of the gloss off Karen Murphy’s unprecedented 550th international appearance, but it has made it a touch more difficult for her to top her pool.
Murphy fell by a single shot to Edwards in her milestone match, which now sees the pair equal on wins going into the final round.
Canada’s Kelly McKerihen, who plays for Clayton in Melbourne, poached top spot with a win against Kenya, and now has a one-game advantage over Murphy, who is 7 shots clear of Edwards, while the Netherland’s Saskia Schaft looms ominously in fourth spot.
Schaft and Murphy are set to meet in the last rubber, with Murphy needing a draw to guarantee that she progresses to the post-sectionals, while needing to win and relying on McKerihen losing in order to finish first in her section.
The men’s pairs partnership of Brett Wilkie and Aaron Wilson enjoyed a comfortable 26-13 win over the bottom-placed team from Cyprus, which sees them retain their top-of-the-ladder standing going into the final sectional round.
The pair were just a draw ahead of the next three nations, England, Scotland and Hong Kong China, going into the penultimate round, but can now breath a sigh of relief knowing that they are guaranteed a spot in the post-sectional rounds even if they stumble on the last hurdle – after Hong Kong China failed to secure a sixth victory, against South Africa.
While the duo are definitely in the box seat to advance directly to the semi-final, they face perhaps one of their toughest tasks to date to secure the advantage, in Canada’s Steven Santana and the Gold Coast’s adopted Ryan Bester.
The Jackaroos men’s triples, Barrie Lester, Mark Casey and Aron Sherriff, secured a stellar 19-11 victory over the third-placed Ireland to give themselves a one-game buffer in second spot.
Regardless of their last result to Canada, the trio will advance to the post-sectionals, but must prevail and hope that New Zealand loses in order to claim the top spot.
The women’s fours team of Carla Krizanic, Rebecca Van Asch, Natasha Scott, Kelsey Cottrell, continue to go from strength-to-strength after suffering three loses from their initial four encounters, with a fourth straight win, against Singapore 30-5.
The quartet are all but guaranteed of progressing to post-sectionals, with a one-game and 69 shot advantage over the next best nation, South Africa, and face the bottom-placed Canada.
Click here for full men’s results.
Click here to see full women’s results.
Click here to visit Bowls Australia’s World Bowls Championships page.
Round 8: 10.15am – 1.15pm AEDT
Women’s singles (section 1): Australia (K. Murphy) lost to New Zealand (Jo Edwards) 20-21 (Burnside)
Women’s fours (section 1): Australia (Carla Krizanic, Rebecca Van Asch, Natasha Scott, Kelsey Cottrell) def Singapore (Josephine Lim, May Lee, Jane Low, Lim Kwee Choor) 30-5 (Papanui)
Men’s pairs (section 1): Australia (Brett Wilkie, Aaron Wilson) def Cyprus (Michael Jarvis, Loukas Paraskeva) 26-13 (Canterbury)
Men’s triples (section 1): Australia (Barrie Lester, Mark Casey, Aron Sherriff) def Ireland (Simon Martin, Neil Mulholland, Martin McHugh) 19-11 (Papanui)
