Queensland’s mixed Australian Sides run
Win one and lose one during second last day of play Queensland has had yet another mixed day at the Australian Sides championships in Yokine, WA, with both the men and women winning one and losing the other of their two competitions.
Despite the sun poking through during the day, Queensland still struggled on the rain-soaked greens on occasion and let their opponents get the better of them.
“They weren’t the results we were hoping for in the competition,” Queensland coach Bill Cornehls said.
“We need to learn from this event, with the greens weather affected, and adjust the way we play in these conditions.
“We have played well in patches and other times not as good but we can learn to move forward.”
The Queensland women started well yesterday (Sat April 11), surprising Victoria with their focus to achieve a 61-38 victory.
There was no such lofty margin in the men’s game, a tight tussle ultimately resulting in disappointment for the Maroons, Victoria taking the rubber by just six shots over the three rinks, 60-54.
The results were reversed during the afternoon games against the Australian Capital Territory.
This time the Queensland men finished on the right side of another very close match, winning by five shots, 61-56.
The women failed to lay a glove on the ACT, going down by almost as big a margin as they won the morning game, 51-70.
The final of the seven rounds will be played today (Sun April 12), with Queensland’s last hurrah against home state Western Australia.
New South Wales has been the dominant side this year, and Queensland will not retain the Overall Champions Trophy, which they won at Australian Sides in Tasmania last year.
(This will give NSW one more win than Queensland in the overall Champions Trophy winner’s tally, with NSW winning four and Queensland winning three since the honour was introduced in 2008.)
The New South Wales women yesterday celebrated a successful defence of the main prize, the Marj Morris Trophy.
NSW women will take home the silverware, even if they lose today against the Northern Territory.
In what has been the upset of the championships, the South Australian men are just one game away from taking home the coveted Alley Shield, for only the second time in the competition’s history.
If they win against the Australian Capital Territory today, the trophy is theirs.
But if they lose, and depending on the results of the other games, the Shield is most likely to go to NSW, giving the Blues a clean sweep of the competition.
A full match report can be found on the Bowls Australia website.
