Australia And New Zealand Locked In Tight Tussle At Naenae Lawn Bowls Clash

Wellington’s Naenae Bowling Club is hosting a lawn bowls Trans-Tasman, as we see the return of this event to New Zealand shores after a seven-year absence.

International bowls followers will recognise Naenae as being the hosts of the 2022 World Champion of Champions Singles event.

First played in 1979 when it was known as the ‘inter-dominion’, the Trans-Tasman event has always been hotly contested between New Zealand and our cousins across the ditch.

In recent years, Australia has dominated on their home turf with ‘Advance Australia Fair’ echoing across the greens upon the conclusion of the event more often than ‘God Defend New Zealand’.

This year, the New Zealand BlackJacks and Australian Jackaroos have both an open Men’s and Women’s team selected, and a para component with a B1-B8 Mixed Pair and a B6-B8 Women’s and Men’s Pair.

Additionally, men’s and women’s development teams have been selected to compete.

The test match runs for three days, and the team that wins the most games when the dust has settled- will win their respective trophy.

Today was the second day of play- with tight matches abounding.

The Open Women's Event is a race to ten wins and New Zealand currently lead 6.5 games to 5.5 games; it was a day full of drama for the open women's team, with a number of games going to the last end.

Of particular note were the round three efforts of the women's singles and women's fours who both staged magnificent comebacks as the thunderclouds rolled in to win 21-20 and 17-15 respectively.

The Open Men's Event was a race to ten wins and Australia has got there, winning the pairs and triples in round three today to successfully lay claim to the trophy with a day to spare. The only bright spots for New Zealand have come through two wins in the middle round of the day, with the singles and fours both posting winning scores of 21-12 and 12-10 respectively.

The Development Women's Event is a race to ten wins Australia are poised one win away from victory, with six games left to play New Zealand fought hard today to claw three of the six games played away from Australia- those victories coming courtesy of two wins in the singles, and one game of pairs.

The Development Men's Event is a race to ten wins and is poised as a draw a 6-6 with three games apiece coming today, on the back of the three wins apiece earned yesterday.

A number of the games came down to the last few ends- with magnificent bowls being played by both countries.

The Para Event is a race to nine wins and New Zealand currently lead seven wins to five- games were played inside for the para contingent today, due to the weather conditions.

Tomorrow will be a tense day- with five games to be played, and New Zealand needing two win two out of the five.

The test series itself is decided on trophies won, and with the Open Women's, Development Men's and Para trophies remaining anyone's- so does the test series. 

Entry to Naenae to watch day three of the Trans-Tasman is free, and live coverage is being broadcast on Sky Sport and the Bowls New Zealand YouTube channel.

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