By Val Febbo
It was a perfect day for the Australian Jackaroos at Glasgow 2026 as they went five from five at the Scottish Event Campus.
Women’s singles
Ellen Fife’s title defence is back on track after an unbeaten day where she overcame Jersey’s Abbey Andrieux with a scintillating performance to win 12-5 8-4 before backing up with a gritty 5-5 6-5 win over Malta’s Connie Rixon.
scintillating 12-5 8-4 win over Jersey’s Abbey Andrieux that has seen her gain vital shots back.
The dual Commonwealth Games gold medallist was in rampant form in the opening set as she raced away with proceedings before starting the second in blistering form to take a full count with the first end.
Fife kept Andrieux at bay throughout the rest of the set to gain a pivotal victory with Kelly McKerihen defeating Katherine Rednall to blow the section open.
Then came match two, and Rixon began brilliantly to take a 3-0 buffer before Fife nailed a drive to make a two of her own and settle into the match.
The Australian would need two to tie the opener on the deciding end and duly obliged leaving a one-set shootout to decide the victor.
It would be Fife who gained the ascendancy early in the second with a double in the opening end before going one better with a three on end two to lead 5-0.
The Cabramatta member took another with end three before Rixon halved the deficit with a brilliant bowl on end four to give herself every chance of coming back.
Those chances would come as the Gold Coast 2018 bronze medallist threw everything at the defending champion, but Fife held firm to take another important win.
Fife will be back in action tomorrow against the Falkland Islands’ Daphne Arthur-Almond, who defeated McKerihen in the evening session (Friday 8:20pm AEST).
Men’s pairs
Corey Wedlock and Aaron Teys maintained their unblemished record with a 6-3 11-1 win against Lal Chand Prasad and Surendra Prasad of Fiji.
The Fijians were on song early, leading 2-1 after three and holding two in the penultimate end before Teys played a stupendous bowl to trail the jack resulting in a monstrous five.
Wedlock and Teys would clinch a big four to get things underway in the second before running away with a comfortable victory as crucial matchups with Northern Ireland and New Zealand loom in the coming days.
The Australians will be back in action tomorrow against Tonga’s Chad Nathan and Liam Hill (Friday 5:30pm AEST) before a matchup with Northern Ireland’s Adam McKeown and Gary Kelly (Saturday 4:15am AEST).
Para Men’s pairs
Continuing their quest for gold, Damien Delgado and James Reynolds produced a sensational display to defeat Singapore’s Mawjit Singh Gurmet Singh and Kirmern Bin Mohammed 5-2 2-4 1-0 which puts them on the cusp of a semifinal berth.
The Australians took a 3-0 lead wth singles across the first three ends before Singh and Mohammed gained momentum to narrow the gap to one with an end to play.
From there, Delgado and Reynolds looked in control, taking the first two exchanges of the second before momentum shifted once more as Singapore clinched the final three ends of the set to force a tiebreak.
Australia would hold game at the crossover before Mohammed put a bowl right on the money to heap pressure on the men in green and gold.
Reynolds responded with a wondrous drive to send the bowl clattering out to give Australia the advantage and leave them as the only unbeaten team in the group.
While not fully guaranteed a place in the semifinals, the reigning world champions have placed themselves well to make it through.
Delgado and Reynolds will be back in action tomorrow against South Africa’s Gareth Rees-Gibbs and Jarid James (Friday 6:55pm AEST).
Para women’s pairs
Louise Hoskins and Serena Bonnell kept their quest of a knockout spot well and truly alive thanks to a superb 9-1 8-4 win against Canada’s Jean Stairs and Anne Hibberd.
The pair raced out to a 4-0 lead after two ends in the first set to take a stranglehold on the momentum to grab the set and a perfect foothold within the contest.
Hoskins and Bonnell commenced the second in fine fashion to take a two and held three in the next end before Hibberd played a bomb to make a triple for the Canadians.
From there, the Australians clicked into gear to make a gargantuan five to heap an abundance of pressure on their counterparts.
Stairs and Hibberd were resolute but it was not enough for the Canadians to take down the Australians who improve their ledger to two wins and a loss.
Hoskins and Bonnell will be in action again tomorrow against Malaysia’s Norazian Daud and Jariah Zakaria (Saturday 12am AEST).
