2023 World Bowls Indoor Championships: Day One wrap
The opening day of the 2023 World Bowls Indoor Championships has seen Right at Home Jackaroos Aron Sherriff and Kelsey Cottrell kick off their mixed pairs campaign in dominant fashion, going undefeated across their four sectional matches and quarterfinal to book passage into the semis later in the week.
It was an early start at the Warilla Bowls and Recreational Club, but the Australians ensured that their morning would start in perfect fashion with a 6-3 10-1 victory over the Falkland Island and Israel pairing of Cecil Alexander and Amalia Levy.
The second session saw the pair heavily tested by one of the two Scottish teams in the draw, this one consisting of Connor Milne and Lorraine Craig.
Australia controlled the opening set, dropping just one shot from the five ends before the Scots stormed back to clinch the second and force a tiebreak.
From there, Sherriff and Cottrell did what they do best to secure the decider and claim a vital win as they extending their unbeaten start to the tournament.
Thailand’s Wattana Kadkhunthod and Palita Gangur were next in the firing line for the top ranked Australian bowlers, and after a tight first set the home nation stormed home to ensure they were in the box seat to emerge from the section with a 6-5 6-1 victory.
The final contest of the day saw the USA’s Scottie Marzony and Dee McSparran force a mighty tussle in the first stanza, Sherriff and Cottrell taking it 3-2 with only single shots conceded.
Following the pressure release, the Australians piled on the numbers in the second to clinch it 8-1 and top the group.
The first knockout clash pitted the Queensland duo against Jersey’s Malcolm de Sousa and Megan Kivlin, with the first set proving to be a fruitful one as the Australians ran it out 12-1.
de Sousa and Kivlin did not lie down however, making their opponents fight for every shot in the second, which ended in a 4-4 tie, enough for the Australians to be on their way to Thursday’s semifinals.
England’s Martin Puckett and Kirsty Hembrow await Sherriff and Cottrell in the final four after their 1-10 6-3 1-0 victory over Malta’s Troy Lorimer and Connie Rixon.
The other Australians in the mixed pairs draw performed valiantly in their respective sections, as Chloe Morrison and her Swedish partner Pontus Palmkvist narrowly missed out on a quarterfinal place after finishing second to England on net sets.
The duo defeated the English 0-6 6-3 1-0 in the concluding sectional match, but it was a defeat at the hands of Turkey in the opening round that proved the difference.
Serena Bonnell and Hungary’s Zoltan Pavelka finished their sectional play in fourth position with one win and two losses, while Lauren Banks and Fiji’s Zainal Mohammed ended in third in their section with the same ledger.
Grace Moloney and Jamaica’s Martin Edwards closed their campaign with a third place in their section, claiming a pair of victories and defeats from their quartet of matches.
View all of the Day One results HERE
The World Bowls Indoor Championships runs from May 7-12 at the Warilla Bowls & Recreation Club, and will be live streamed on World Bowls’ Facebook page on the final two days of the competition.
