Blues train stays on track
Just like a good golf tournament, day three at the Australian Sides Championship is ‘moving day’ with many of the teams making great strides for the finish line and indeed the securement of one of the two famed trophies in bowls – The Alley Shield and the Marj Morris Trophy.
The main move in the men’s draw came from SA who put themselves in medal contention with a win over Queensland while the boys from New South Wales led by skips Mark Casey, Aron Sherriff and Shane Garvey have not lost a match so far in the tournament and sit at the top of the state versus state ladder with five wins, one win ahead of arch-rival Queensland in second place and South Australia in third place.
The home state, that lost to NSW in round four this morning, is a further win adrift in fourth placed but have their opportunity to creep closer as they play SA in today’s second session.
The morning session on day three saw the table topping NSW outfit drop two of their rinks skipped by Casey and Garvey while Sherriff flew the ‘Blues’ flag winning comfortably and ensuring that NSW had enough shots in the bank to win 60-53 overall.
The win by Victorian Matthew Flapper’s skipped rink, comprising of Dylan Fisher, Aron Wilson and Barrie Lester against Garvey’s rink saw them sit in the outright lead on five wins on the Top Skipped Rink ladder just ahead of team mates led by Scotsman Graeme Archer who also claimed a rink win this morning.
The top five rinks after round 5 are skipped by Flapper, Archer, Casey, Nathan Rice (QLD) and Alex Murtagh (QLD.
On the women’s side of the draw, NSW are again leading the pack on top of the state versus state ladder but aren’t without some pressure from behind.
Despite a 43-64 defeat at the hands of the ‘locals’, they sit just over 16% ahead of Victoria with the ACT a further position back but are all on four wins and a loss for the championships.
The challenge that lies ahead for NSW to retain the Marj Morris trophy is to defeat QLD (4th) in this afternoon’s match and third placed ACT tomorrow morning to decide the champion state for 2013.
Victoria enjoyed a great morning on their home digs with two wins from three matches which included a dominant performance form the Lisa Phillips skipped rink over Karen Murphy’s 31-12 while the other victory came in the form of Samantha Shannahan’s rink 21-14 over Kelsey Cottrell’s.
Natasha Van Eldik was the lone NSW winning rink this morning and she is the joint leader on five wins with Phillips in the race to find the women’s leading skip.
Queensland will be desperate for a win in this afternoon’s match against NSW to make any claim for a top two berth after their overall win this morning despite dropping two rinks.
The best result for the maroons in the patch against SA this morning was that of Jackaroos captain Lynsey Clarke who defeated the Cherie Morgan led rink 30-9 in a dominant display in cool central Victoria conditions.
