Australia’s Jackaroos are set to stride on to the green at one of the sport’s most prestigious events – the Commonwealth Games. 

The road to Glasgow 2026 has presented its challenges for Australia’s elite, but the squad of twelve is primed to add to the stored history of the green and gold in bowls at the multi-sport extravaganza. 

For the first time since Delhi 2010, sets play returns, in a Bowls Premier League-style format, with singles seeing two sets of seven ends with a one-end tiebreak if sets are level, while pairs and para disciplines are contested over two sets of five ends, before a one-end tiebreak if sets are level. 

That isn’t the only change, with the event heading indoors for the first time in history as the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) plays host to the competition – a stone’s throw away from where the world’s best were placed at the 2014 Games. 

Each open discipline will consist of four sections, with each section winner going through to the semi-finals, making every contest vital in the group stage. 

Men’s singles – Aaron Wilson chasing history 

Aaron Wilson is a man on a quest for history, striving to join David Bryant as the only bowlers in history to win three consecutive singles gold medals, having already joined the legendary Englishman as the only man to successfully defend the crown at back-to-back Games. 

Wilson’s stiffest section challenge come from  Guernsey’s Jason Greenslade, who is formidable on carpet, as is Jersey’s Malcolm De Sousa. 

Namibia’s Ronald Steenkamp, Botswana’s Modisaotsile Mphotho, Isle of Man’s Mark McGreal and the Cook Islands’ Royden Aperau will also feature in the two-time defending champion’s section. 

Men’s Pairs 

Corey Wedlock and Aaron Teys arrive in Glasgowh in supremely good form. 

Wedlock earned the Player of the Tournament accolade at the recent Australian Open, while Teys claimed the blue-ribboned men’s singles title on the Gold Coast last month. 

The pair face a tough section, with Northern Ireland’s World Bowls Championships-winning duo of Adam McKeown and Gary Kelly looming large, alongside New Zealand’s Tony Grantham and former World Champion Ai Forsyth. 

Fiji’s Lal and Surendra Prasad,Pakistan’s Maqsood Wasim Khan and Muhammad Ayub Quereshi, and Tonga’s Chad Nathan and Liam Hill round out the section. 

The Australian duo are no stranger to this format, having won the Bowls Premier League on four occasions as teammates for the Tweed Ospreys. 

Women’s singles – Fife returns 

Women’s singles action will see Ellen Fife return to the tournament that cemented her as an all-time great. 

At Birmingham 2022, she became the first bowler in history to win the singles and pairs at the same Games. 

Her section is fiercely competitive, headlined by English star Katherine Rednall, who excels on indoor surfaces having won the World Bowls Tour’s showpiece event at Potters on a staggering seven occasions. 

2023 World Bowls Championships singles silver medallist, Canada’s Kelly McKerihen, also poses a significant threat, as does Malta’s Connie Rixon, a Gold Coast 2018 bronze medallist and 2023 World Championships pairs runner-up. 

Fife’s remaining challengers are Jersey’s Fiona Archibald, the Cook Islands’ Emily Jim and the Falkland Island’s Daphne Archer-Almond as the Goulburn native strives to join Malaysia’s Siti Zalina Ahmad and New Zealand’s Jo Edwards as the only other women to successfully defend their singles crown. 

Women’s pairs 

Dawn Hayman and Kelsey Cottrell were gold medal winning teammates at the 2023 World Bowls Championships and will look to add to their impressive list of accolades in the women’s pairs Scotland. 

The duo have played numerous singles classics against each other in recent years, and the prospect of them teaming up has always excited Australian and neutral bowls fans alike. 

Hayman will make her Games debut, while Cottrell notches up her fourth appearance at the event, having tasted gold in the fours at Gold Coast 2018 along with silver and bronze in previous editions, with the Queenslander aiming to claim a pairs medal, the only discipline she is missing from her collection. 

In their section are the dangerous Northern Ireland pairing of Shauna O’Neill and Chloe Wilson, and the Guernsey combination of Rose Ogier and superstar Alison Merrien MBE. 

Also looming in the group are the Isle of Man’s Caroline Whitehead and Paula Garrett, Niue’s Christine Ioane and Catherin Papani, Singapore’s Janice Tan and Cheo Ai Lin and Zambia’s Mildred Mkandawire and Gertrude Siams. 

Vision Impaired Mixed Pairs 

The para disciplines operate under a slightly different format  – with just one section of six teams in each discipline’s draw, with ofur sides advancing to the semi-finals before the gold medal matches, or bronze medal deciders for those defeated. 

The vision impaired mixed pairs reunite 2023 World Bowls Championship-winning teammates Jacky Hudson and Jake Fehlberg as they look to make more history. 

Fehlberg already has a Commonwealth Games gold medal to his name, earned alongside Lynne Seymour at Gold Coast 2018, making him the only para bowler in history to have won gold at the sport’s two greatest events. 

Hudson – one of Australia’s oldest ever debutants at the Games – will look to join Fehlberg in that exclusive category, with former superstars Karen Murphy AM and Claire Turley guiding them as directors, the pair will back themselves to create more joy for Australian bowls. 

Their section sees Scotland’s defending champion Robert Barr line up with Mary Stevenson, with England’s hopes resting on Sally-Ann Lewis-Wall and Ron Homer. 

New Zealand’s Sonya Woodrow and Kerrin Wheeler,  South Africa’s Nozipho Schroder and Keith Orrell, and Wales’ Julie Thomas and Steffan James complete the draw. 

Physical Disability Men’s Pairs 

Damien Delgado and James Reynolds hold the tantalising prospect of joining Fehlberg as joint holders of the Commonwealth and World Championships gold, as they look to maintain their grip on the international events. 

The 2023 World Bowls Championships-winning teammates have both earned Games medals – Delgado a runner-up in Birmingham 2022 and Reynolds a bronze medallist at Manchester 2002. 

Their stiffest challenge will come from of Scottish defending champion Garry Brown and his teammate in Stuart Sloan, with South Africa’s Gareth Rees-Gibbs and Jarid James also in contention. 

England’s Joe Peplow and Kieren Rollings, and New Zealand’s Mark Noble – Australian Open physical disability men’s singles champion – and Kurt Smith round out the draw. 

Singapore’s first para team in Commonwealth Games history will also compete, with the pioneering pairing of Khimern Bin Mohamad and Mawjit Singh set to make their mark. 

Physical Disability Women’s Pairs 

Louise Hoskins and Serena Bonnell will look to etch their names into Commonwealth Games folklore as they launch their campaign in Glasgow. 

Hoskins makes her debut and at 76, placing her among her among  the oldestdebutants in Games history, meanwhile Bonnell will be aiming to go one better than the silver medal she earned in Birmingham 2022. 

The pair will face stiff challenges from World Bowls Championship winners New Zealand’s Julie O’Connell and Teri Blackbourn, while Scotland’s defending champion Pauline Wilson and teammate Mary Wilson represent another formidable matchup for the green and gold. 

England’s Michelle White and Helen Wood, Canada’s Anne Hibberd and Jean Stairs, and Malaysia’s Jaria Zakaria and Norazian Daud complete the section.