Day Three – Commonwealth Games
Day three was also going to be a pivotal day in the quest for medals in Week One of the Lawn Bowls events at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Starting the day, in the Ladies Singles event Laura Daniels was safe in the knowledge that she was through to the evenings Quarter Finals, however wanted to continue the good form that has seen her unbeaten to date in Section B. In the battle for top spot in the group, it was Caroline Brown from Scotland who came out on top winning 21-13, with Laura up against it at 0-8 down early on.
In the Quarter Final draw, Laura was pitted against Carmen Andersen of the Norfolk Islands who came through Section C unbeaten. A tight affair ensued under the Broadbeach lights early on with Neath’s Daniels heading out to a 9-4 lead after 10 ends. Despite Andersen pegging Laura back to 13-14, the World Champions of Champions winner and current World Pairs champion showed her big match qualities, winning all of the remaining ends to win 21-13 in a game she never trailed.
The most pivotal game early in the day came in the Mens Pairs, where Dan Salmon and Marc Wyatt knew only a win would secure a Quarter Final spot at the expense of their experienced Northern Ireland opponents Gary Kelly and Ian McClure.
Dan and “Sparky” however, put in a sensational performance racing out to a 12-0 lead early on. Despite being pegged back to 14-8, they finished with 13 shots without reply to win convincingly 27-8 booking a night session Quarter Final with New Zealand.
The good news didn’t end there, with a terrific performance to convincingly beat a strong looking Kiwis pair of Blake Signal and Shannon McIlroy. They led out 5-1 early on and quickly raced into a 10-3 lead after 10 ends. With the game slipping away from the New Zealand pair, Penylan’s Dan and Caerphilly Town’s Marc showed their class to extend their lead to 19-5 with their opponents shaking hands at 20-7 handing the boys a guaranteed shot at medal.
The Mens Triples, like Laura in the Ladies Singles knew that a Quarter Final spot was secured, but wanted to continue their momentum with a final group match against England. Ross Owen, Steve Harris & Jonathan Tomlinson got off to a great start leading out 8-3 and 14-9 before England made a comeback in the final ends to edge out the boys 17-16.
Safely through though, a Quarter Final draw against Scotland in the early evening session awaited them.
Again, Ross, Steve & Tomo raced out to an early lead 11-2 after 8 ends. However, the Scottish trio of Ronnie Duncan, Derek Oliver and Darren Burnett found their feet in the second half of the game to reduce the deficit to 11-8. A double on the 14th end pushed the boys out to 13-8. But, Scotland managed to win all the remaining ends with a 4 and 3 singles to take the game 15-13.
Meanwhile Julie Thomas & Gilbert Miles continued their quest for medals in the B6/B7 Mixed Pairs with a excellent 21-11 win over England. They have 2 remaining matches in the group stage and will be looking to secure a semi-final spot with a win over Australia tomorrow morning.
Jon Hubbard, Ray Lillicrop & Pauline Wilson also entertained the crowds under the night lights, this time up against South Africa. However they found the Proteas again a tough ask losing out 21-4.
With two combinations remaining in medal contention in Week One of the Lawn Bowls events. Wales holds its breath hoping for a Super Sunday down under.
