International bowling action gets underway for Garioch siblings
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World Bowls Championship in Australia has started with Garioch's Carla and Jason Banks playing in Ladies 4s and Gents Pairs in round robin league matches writes Mike Barron.
The draw for both has four sections and the Ladies play at three different greens.
The Scots have eight countries in section 4 and their top adversary will be Hong Kong who normally turn out a very strong experienced four.
Carla leads with Claire Anderson, Stacey McDougall, and Caroline Brown, who have six top championship medals to their name.
The 4 start against Papa New Guinea, round 2 against Zimbabwe, next comes Singapore, round 4 Thailand, round 5 Phillipines, round 6 Hong Kong, and finally Cook Islands.
One of these might spring a surprise as some have Australian or New Zealand coaches.
Some observations on the other 3 sections:-
Section 1 Australia start favourites but Ireland will be there main challenge. Canada might be fighting for the top 2.
Section 2 England has South Africa but Malaysia could spring a surprise.
Section 3 New Zealand must watch out for Wales.
Australian Bowls comments “ since 2008 Scotland have dethroned us and again must be one of the serious favourites”- We can but hope they are correct!
Jason with Ian McLean for Scotland feature in the Men’s Pairs Competition over the next few days
They are drawn in Section 4 with 10 teams.
The 9 matches are played within four days…a tough schedule!
They must be at their best against the strong South African pair who they meet in Round 5 but before that they meet in sequence Sweden, Cook Islands, Switzerland, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Malaysia, Falkland Isles, Israel and Niue.
While the Pacific island clubs might appear to be walk overs that will be far from the case as many live, work and play in Australia and New Zealand and play at the highest level there.
Other sections:-
Section 1 has the home team of Australia but they must ensure there is no surprise against the strong Singapore pair when they meet.
Section 2 has both Ireland and Hong Kong in the 10 teams but a surprise could come from some of the lesser known pacific rim bowls nations.
Section 3 has New Zealand as favourites but England and Canada would disagree with this comment.
