2024 Imagine Cruising World Indoor Bowls Championship – Day 10 Recap
The ladies’matchplay took centre stage yesterday (Sunday) at the Imagine Cruising World Indoor Bowls Championships. Let’s take a look at what happened on the portable rink with the World Bowls Tour’s Anne Dunwoodie.
RELENTLESS DISPLAY FROM NICOLE ROGERS
It was ladies’ day at Potters Resorts, Hopton-On-Sea, showcasing four quarter-final matches in the Imagine Cruising World Indoor Bowls Ladies Matchplay Singles and Exeter’s Nicole Rogers certainly set the bar extremely high in her opening game against Arbroath qualifier Ailsa Robertson – who was making her debut at Potters.
Rogers, a 25-year-old Actuarial Consultant who bowls out of the Exonia Club, and who lost in at this stage last year to South Africa’s Gillian Young in straight sets, didn’t make that mistake this time round, never faltering throughout, with a dominating 10-2, 11-0 victory.
She only dropped singles on the first and fifth ends of the opening set and never put a foot wrong in the second set – with delicate draws to full out strikes, denying the 35-year-old Elgin administrator on several occasions to rubber stamp her place in Wednesday’s semi-final.
RESULT: Nicole Rogers (Eng) bt Ailsa Robertson (Scot) 10-2, 11-0.
HOLDER STAYS IN THE MIX TO REGAIN THE LADIES MATCHPLAY SINGLES TITLE
Twenty-eight-year-old Katherine Rednall, the defending champion – who sealed her first success in this event in 2014 as an 18-year-old and is now a five time winner of the Imagine Cruising Ladies World Matchplay Singles crown, remains in the mix for a record extending sixth title , after securing a last four berth on Wednesday 17th January at 3pm against Exeter’s Nicole Rogers.
In her quarter-final match against Annie Dunham, a 35-year-old Bowls Development Officer from Holbeach in Lincolnshire, she had to pull some big shots out of the bag on more than a few occasion.
They shared a 2-2 score line after four ends of the opening set, but local Norfolk star Rednall counted a 3, 1 and 1 for the loss of a treble to hold a 7-5 lead going into the last end, and was happy to avert any catastrophes when she counted a full house on the last to take an 11-5 first set win.
On the first end of the second set, Rednall held a welcome treble but a well executed runner from Dunham yielded her a single and she extended that to a 4-1 lead over the next three ends.
Both players dug deep over the remaining ends, with some quality exchanges, but a double on the last end of the match was good enough for Rednall to draw the set 6-6 and move through to that tantalising last four clash by one and a half sets to a half.
RESULT: *Holder Katherine Rednall (Eng) bt Annalisa Dunham (Eng) 11-5, 6-6.
LAST YEAR’S LOSING FINALIST BOOKS HER SEMI-FINAL SPOT IN THE LADIES MATCHPLAY SINGLES AGAIN
Ceri Ann Glen cemented her semi-final place in this year’s Imagine Cruising Ladies World Matchplay Singles but had to work hard for her 9-4, 9-7 win over overseas qualifier Guilia Gallo from California.
Welsh born Glen, who, although living in East Calder in Scotland, plays her bowls at the Newport Club and represents Wales in international competitions, is a Risk Manager – Global Markets & Securities, and in the third quarter final of the day she took the first set leading all the way and won 9-4 with an end to spare.
In the second though Gallo, a Senior Data Scientist at Microsoft, who bowls from the Longbeach club and who has diligently practiced on this portable rink since her arrival at the beginning of the month, got off to a better start.
She led 3-0 after two ends, and 6-5 after seven, but with that finishing line tantalisingly in sight, a determined and focused Glen rolled in a full count of four shots at the crucial time to take a 9-6 lead going into the last where she was content to play covering shots to avoid the scenario of losing the set.
Gallo though played out the end well but could only muster up a single and missed out 9-7.
RESULT: Ceri Ann Glen (Wales) bt Guilia Gallo (USA) 9-4, 9-7.
TWICE FORMER CHAMPION JULIE FORREST GRABS A LAST BOWL QUARTER FINAL WIN
Julie Forrest for the Scottish Border town of Teviotdale, grabbed a victory from the jaws of defeat against 20-year-old Welsh star Lauren Gowen in the last of the Imagine Cruising Ladies World Matchplay quarter-final matches.
Twice former title holder Forrest, an Early Years Practitioner, was continually put to the sword against her Tonypandy opponent who lists Taff Ely as her bowls club with the diminutive Welsh player scoring a sensational treble on the last end of the first set 10-7 to take an early advantage.
In the second set though, the seasoned and highly experienced Forrest went 6-0 up after three ends and kept her nose in front to win the set 9-7 and force a best of three end tie break.
Gowen took the first end and was desperately unlucky not to seal the match result on the second end, with her bowl just agonisingly slightly heavy.
Tied at 1-1, Gowen held a match lie and looked like she was the one progressing to a semi-final berth on Wednesday against Ceri Ann Glen, but as is her trademark, Forrest ground out the match winner with her very last bowl to deny the young Welsh star 2-1.
RESULT: Julie Forrest (Scot) bt Lauren Gowen (Wales) 7-10, 9-7, 2-1.
Caption: Katherine Rednall and Annie Dunham
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