Victorian state title winner, Moama’s Cassandra Millerick, has reached the final of the women’s singles at the Australian Bowls Open.
Another week of the Australian Bowls Open on the Gold Coast has seen a host of players from Moama compete, with locals reaching two finals at the national tournament.
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Following on from her recent state titles, Cassandra Millerick has reached the decider of the women’s singles.
Millerick dominated the first four rounds of the knockout stage, winning each match by nine or more shots.
Her quarter and semi-finals were much closer, the Moama bowler just edging past Nor Zamziezah Binti Ahmad 21-19 in the last eight, before holding off a late surge by Nurul Alyani Jamil in the final four.
Millerick led 18-14 before her opponent made three shots on one end to cut the lead down to one, the Moama bowler then doing likewise to take out a 21-17 triumph and progress to the final.
Jamie-Lee Worsnop from NSW will be Millerick’s opponent in the decider.
Eight locals — including Millerick — were also involved in the two fours events, playing alongside bowlers from other states.
The women’s fours would see another strong Moama-influenced performance, as Steamers Emma Simmonds and Gracie Retallick finished as runner-up alongside Victoria’s Taiia Devlin and Olivia Slade.
The team won all of its sectional matches to qualify for the knockouts, winning a tight first round 19-18 before succeeding with slightly more ease in the second and third rounds, prevailing 14-10 and 15-11, respectively.
In the quarter-finals, the quartet won 25-8 in a dominant display before a stunning victory in the semis, down 12-10 going into the final end before producing three shots to win 13-12.
The final was another thrilling affair, Simmonds and Retallick’s team going toe-to-toe across the opening six ends against Aleena Ahmad Nawawi, Syafiqa Haidar Afif Abdul Rahman, Nurul Alyani Jamil and Emma Firyana Saroji.
The Moama-centric group led 13-12 with two ends to play, but its opponent was exceptional late, scoring five shots on the second-to-last end, and another on the final to win 18-13.
Moama’s Gracie Retallick (pictured) and Emma Simmonds were runners-up in the women’s fours event.
Elsewhere, Millerick played alongside South Australian duo Hanika Booth and Sheridon Bodnar, and her singles final opponent Worsnop, the group being eliminated at the round of 32 stage.
In the men’s fours, Kevin Anderson and Cameron Keenan played with Queensland duo Aron Sherriff and Ryan Burnett, winning all of their sectional matches to qualify for the knockouts and go all the way to the quarter-finals.
The foursome was eliminated at this stage, losing a thrilling encounter 10-9 to Tyler Pettigrew, Jacob Aitken, Harvey McAlister and Hayden Oster, a group which went on to make the final.
Meanwhile, Moama trio Paul Girdler, Matt Robertson and Peter Campbell weren’t able to have the same success in the fours, only winning two of their three sectional matches, meaning they did not qualify for the knockout stages.
Four local players did qualify for the elimination stages of the men’s singles, with Robertson being knocked out in the first round and Girdler’s campaign ending in round two.
Anderson and Keenan performed well, both making the round of 32 before falling.
In the pairs, three Moama players reached the second round of the knockouts, with Girdler falling at this stage alongside New Zealand’s Geoff Short, which was also the case for the all-local duo of Robertson and Campbell.
The women’s pairs saw the Moama team of Millerick and Simmonds reach the final stages, though the duo fell at the first hurdle.
Finally, both under-18 singles events have begun, with three local bowlers competing.
Jacob Brighton qualified for the knockout stages of the boys' competition after winning all three of his sectional matches, then beating Queensland’s Levi Rice to set up a quarter-final clash against Deer Park’s Harry Coleman.
Jacob Brighton had a strong run in the under-18 boys singles division, losing by one shot at the quarter-final stage.
Coleman would prevail in a thrilling match, winning 21-20, to bring Brighton’s solid campaign to an agonising close.
In the girls' competition, Retallick wasn’t able to reach the elimination phase after dropping one of her sectional matches, though Mackenzie Parsons has reached the quarter-finals, where she will play Warilla’s Zoe Davies.
All results reported above are at the time of writing, with some matches still in the process of being played.
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