Three remain in Malaysia
The finals of the Asia Pacific Indoor Championships will commence tomorrow with Australia featuring in three out of four events. With sectional play now completed at the Asia Pacific Indoor Championships, Australia has successfully qualified in three out of four events.
Australia’s Kristy Thatcher and Andrew Howie have been dealt a second chance after last night’s defeat against Malaysia ‘A’.
Going into the match Australia and Malaysia were equal on points and margin at the top of the table, however the looser of the match could have been sent packing out of the top three and the winner straight through to a semi-final.
With so much riding on the last match, Thatcher and Howie were pipped at the post in what was a high quality match that could have gone either way.
Howie looked to have the edge over Azlina Arshad the dual Commonwealth games gold medallist, converting three ends in a row with his last bowl to lead 4-0.
The Aussies then held a good quality four until Azlina killed the end and out drew Howie to the re-spot; the score was now 6-5.
Two more to Malaysia on the tenth end gave them the lead for the first time of the match.
Thatcher nailed it the next two ends and with the support of Howie they scored 3 to regain the lead 9-7 after 12.
Malaysia bounced back applying the pressure on the next two ends; Howie was in the zone but some unlucky results saw Malaysia edge back in front 9-10 with 17 minutes left on the clock.
A resting toucher from Thatcher stays put for an entire end and Australia were back at 10 all.
Malaysia dealt a killer blow scoring three to put them three ahead with one end to play due to the time limit.
Australia gave every bowl a chance on the last end and Howie’s last attempt to put the jack in the ditch missed narrow and Australia conceded one to lose the match 10-14.
In the other match from their section, Brunei defeated Singapore which allowed Australia to hang on to third positon.
With the finals schedule still not confirmed by Malaysian officials it is likely the mixed pair’s quarter final will be on Friday.
The Australian mixed fours were in a similar situation, playing against Malaysia ‘A’ for a quarter final berth.
A spot directly into the semi-final was out of reach for both teams as Malaysia ‘B’ were undefeated at the top of the table and couldn’t be chased down.
In a tough battle against the tournament favourites, Australia went down to Malaysia ‘A’ 11-12 and are now out of the competition.
The game was close until the second last end when Malaysia scored a timely three to be four in front with one end left to play.
Australian skip Ben Twist played a brilliant conversion with his last bowl but could only manage to score three.
Finals will commence tomorrow with Australia contesting the Men’s and Women’s singles semi-finals and mixed pairs quarter-final.
The draws will be done overnight and posted to Bowls Australia’s Twitter account.
DAY 4 RESULTS
Women’s Singles: Anne Johns (AUS) def Emma Firyana Saruji (MAS) 19-15
Mixed Fours: Thatcher, Johns, Howie, Twist (AUS) drew with Chow, Tham, Kwok & Chan (HK) 8-8
Mixed Pairs: Thatcher & Howie (AUS) def Kin How Chow and Tammy Tham (HK) 22-4
Men’s Singles: Ben Twist (AUS) def Robert Wilson (NZ) 21-16
Mixed Pairs: Thatcher & Howie (AUS) def by Rais & Arshad 10-14
DAY 5 RESULTS
Mixed Fours: Thatcher, Johns, Howie & Twist (AUS) def by Ahmad, Rais, Muin & Arshad (MAS) 11-12
