Tough indoor draw for APL stars
APL players have drawn tough first round matches in the Australian Indoor Championships getting underway on August 24 at Tweed Heads. Australian Premier League stars have drawn tough first round opponents in next month’s 28th Australian Indoor Championships to be staged once again at the world renowned Tweed Heads Bowling Club.
The tantalizing match of the round see’s two young APL stars go head to head; Tom Mitchell from the Solargain Perth Suns and Robbie Wild, an inaugural APL champion with XXXX Brisbane Gold will set the carpet alight when they meet in the opening round.
Mitchell versus Wild is a difficult match to predict with both players in such good form at present; Wild, off the back of his Australian Open pairs victory is seeded fifth, while Mitchell has been excelling in the west claiming back-to-back WA Bowler of the Year titles.
Both Mitchell and Wild got their big breaks at the APL; mixing it with the best in the business on the biggest of stages, the two men in their twenties have come leaps and bounds and a first round victory at the Australian Indoor could open up the door to further success.
The winner of this match will meet the winner of Club Helensvale’s Jason Carpenter and Lee Stinson of Orange Ex Services in round two.
With the whole Solargain Perth Suns team qualifying in Western Australia for the nation’s premier indoor event, Clive Adams and Matthew Ellul will also be in action on day one, and the draw doesn’t get any easier for the Sandgropers.
Matthew Ellul is set to make his APL debut this November when he replaces former Perth Suns player Jeremy Henry; but before he hits the carpet at Club Pine Rivers, Ellul will meet the in-form NSW youngster Corey Wedlock in round one of his first Australian Indoor Championships.
Wedlock, who is seeded fourth for the championships, earned the high seeding after finishing fifth in the Aero Bowls National Rankings in its inaugural year.
Ellul was called up to the Solargain Perth Suns after outstanding performances skipping for Western Australia at the two most recent Australian Sides Championships.
Wedlock and Ellul, both rising stars of the sport, will provide spectators plenty of entertainment when they meet in what is expected to be a high quality contest.
Adams, a semi-finalist in the 2014 Australian Indoor Championships, will meet well known NSW bowler Gerad Short who now plays out of Austral in Western Sydney.
Adams is no stranger to the indoor surface having recently shown his wares by qualifying for the Scottish Open, a Professional Bowls Association event, and of course his performance at last year’s Australian Indoor Championships that saw Adams go down to eventual winner David Holt in the semi-final.
Jeremy Henry, a former Solargain Perth Suns player who recently announced he has joined rival APL franchise XXXX Brisbane Gold, is a former winner of the Australian Indoor title and a dual world cup singles champion.
Henry will meet St Johns Park’s Josh Berry in the opening round whilst Messenger News Adelaide Endurance star Scott Thulborn is scheduled on the same rink two hours earlier against Norooma’s Jay Breust.
The Australian Indoor Championships will kick off on August 24, and four days of exciting competition will be played before we crown our new indoor king and queen.
To view the full men’s draw, click here.
To view the full women’s draw, click here.
