By Val Febbo
The Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games are officially underway, and Australia’s Jackaroos have wasted no time making their mark, claiming victory in both of their opening bowls matches on Day Zero.
Women’s Singles
Dawn Hayman and Kelsey Cottrell began their campaign with a scintillating performance, overcoming Zambia’s Foster Banda and Gertrude Siams 6-4 14-0.
The opening stanza commenced in brilliant fashion for the green and gold, with both putting down some exemplary deliveries to secure a massive four on the first end.
Undeterred, the Zambians replied well to go end for end to trail by one shot going into the fifth and final exchange of the first set.
Down one at the head with a bowl to come, Cottrell ensured that the Australians would avoid a tied set with a phenomenal shot to clinch the one-set buffer.
After gaining the momentum at the conclusion of the first, Hayman and Cottrell began to stream away, racing to a 6-0 lead with three ends to play.
Following that, the foot was well and truly on the accelerator with the Australians netting a full count of 6 to quash any thought of a comeback, announcing themselves to the rest of the competition.
Hayman and Cottrell will be in action again tomorrow against Guernsey’s Rose Ogier and Alison Merrien MBE (Friday 8:20pm AEST).
Men’s Singles
Aaron Wilson’s quest to join David Bryant as the only bowler to win three consecutive men’s singles gold medals is off to a strong start thanks to an 8-4 6-6 win over Guernsey’s Jason Greenslade.
In a tough matchup to commence proceedings, Wilson was splendid to overcome the former World Bowls Indoor Championships singles champion in familiar conditions.
The Cabramatta product began strongly, racing out to an 8-1 lead after four ends to stamp his authority on the contest, continuing to apply pressure on his way to taking the opener.
However, Greenslade upped the intensity, moving out to a 6-1 lead with two ends to play in the second set and looked on track to force a one-end tiebreak to decide the winner.
But Wilson, undeterred, produced two ends of the utmost quality to score the five required to ensure victory and kick off his gold medal defence with a victory.
The New South Welshman will continue his bid for gold tomorrow with matchups against Namibia’s Waylon Wentzel (Friday 6:55pm AEST) and Botswana’s Modisaotsile ‘Diza’ Mphotho (Saturday 4:15am AEST).
Vision impaired play also commences off tomorrow with Jacky Hudson and Gold Coast 2018 gold medallist Jake Fehlberg with their directors in Claire Turley and Karen Murphy in action against Wales’ Julie Thomas and Steffan James (Friday 9:45pm AEST) and South Africa’s Nozipho Schroder and Keith Orrell (Saturday 5:40am AEST).
