Day 3 competition

Day 3 and on arrival to the club the wind and rain looked like it was going to set in for the day. However it lasted for only a short while, but the cold certainly did settle in.
Day 3 draw saw the Aussies coming up against the highly fancied home team of Northern Ireland.The ladies started the day well, with an easy win in the fours but the singles result was just one of those day when nothing went right. So far in the competition, the results for the ladies singles and fours is 1 win and 1 loss for both.

 It seems that if you get the weight and line early you can win however lose it and the scores can easily blow out. The men's singles once again proved a difficult task and the result has meant that Australia has 1 win and 2 losses after 3 games.

 The men's fours again started off poorly as the the home played ditch to ditch and were very impressive, but the Aussies with their aggressive nature came back and won the last 5 ends to lose by 6 shots. Finally it seems that the team is starting to understand the green.
Each day the playing direction of the greens are turned 90 degrees and the men's and ladies competition swaps greens in the afternoon.
So the afternoon started with the ladies continuing their dominance with good wins in both the pairs and triples.
The men pairs and triples also proved again to be a hard fought out battle,
  The pairs came up against a formidable combination and were in the game early but slowly the Irish started to dominated.
The triples had a tight battle all day, with the Aussies holding a slender lead for most of the game, until the 10th end with the scores level. A wayward shot by the Irish skip caused havoc in the head with result being 1 shot to Ireland. With 5 seconds Barry Lynne played a masterful shot to take out the bowl and make 5. The 4 remaining ends were nail biting as the Aussies held good numbers only to be outdone by a mixture of brilliant bowling and again some wayward bowls giving the Irish the perfect conversions. The last end saw the Aussies with a 2 shot lead and holding 2 on the last crossover. The skips did not change the end and so the Aussies didn't have to play their last end.
The triples competition is very close with a number of teams including Australia with 2 wins and 1 loss.
Tomorrow is a rest day and the teams visit city hall to meet the Belfast Mayor. Then it is off to see the Titanic museum.

Day 2 competition

The day started out as usual. Breakfast and then boarding the bus at 7:45 am. An interesting trip to club as the road the bus travelled along divided the catholic and protestant areas. You could see the protestant areas by the union jack flags on poles and the high wire fences.
The ladies team had their first game against England.
The team comprises

Dianne Reddick.
Plays at Corinda Queensland
Bowls. Henselite standard

1st time player for Australia
Singles Result  21- 17

Pairs
Robyn Larkin
Club:Ocean Grove  Victoria
Bowls Drakes Pride Professional
 Representative for 3 times international
Gail Dellar
Club: Mooloolaba
Bowls Taylor Vectors
1st time representative
Pairs result :Won 19-15

Triples
Lead Dianne Reddick
3rd Maureen Prudden
Skip Janet Hogan
Maureen Prudden
Club Seymour
2nd International
Bowls Dreamline
Janet Hogan
Bowls Taylor Ace
1st International.
Won 18-15

Fours
Lead : Robyn Larkin
2nd Maureen Prudden
3rd Gail Dellar
skip Janet HOgan
Lost 7-22













The day started with great anticipation. The greens were running in an East West configuration as compared to North South the day before. No team had practiced East West.

The ditches are quite unusual. Not your sand based as in Australia.

Yes they are river pebbles.

 Once again the greens were running around the 8-9 seconds. However they seem to take more grass than would expect  which certainly confused the Aussies.
The bowls was a day to forget for the men but a day the ladies rallied. The ladies having been soundly beaten in the fours came out in the afternoon and won both the triples and the pairs. This added to the singles win and gave them a 3 wins 1 loss record against a side that won well the day before.
The men had a day to forget. In the morning both the singles and fours got off to a terrible start as they could not come too terms with the slow green and an opposition that loved and played like machines on the long ends. 
The afternoon didn't fare any better, however the men were very competitive well into the game, only again to have a couple of bad ends which gave the opposition the confidence to run away with a win.
Men 0 wins today.
Interesting call.
Men's triples. Aussie team brought mat right up to minimum. Threw jack cm short( 1 of 5 measurements so far in competition and all have been less than 5 cm short). English team threw jack into ditch. Jack placed at 2 m length. Aussie team puts mat behind minimum length marker. Oppositon skip calls for umpire and measures length, Aussies were bemused.
Also no line markings so there is always a lengthy ritual to get the mat aligned properly.
 To place the jack on the 2m T marker,  the teams have to get a 2m stick on the bank and place it against the wall..

Day 1 of Competition

After an early breakfast we boarded the bus at 7:45 am. The men 's team were playing the Republic of Ireland and the ladies had a bye. Games started at 9am. It was a bank holiday in Belfast so the trip took around 20 minutes to get to the leafy suburb of Belmont.

Brian Lockyer was the singles player and he won his game 21-4 .
Brian originates from Walcha ( Northern NSW)
and uses Dreamline bowls. He is defending his International Champion in singles which he won in Perth 2011

Our pairs team comprised of Harry Hughes lead and Ken Read Skip

Harry Hughes and Ken Read are the pairs players/ They won 37-8
Harry uses the Taylor Vector Vs and Ken is using Henselite Fusion.
Harry plays for Nollamara Club in Perth and it is his first International competition.
Ken plays for Helensvale Club on the Gold Coast and it is his first International competition

Our Triples Team is Brian Lockyer lead, Michael Barca 3rd and Barry Lynne Skip.
They won 20-16.
Michael plays for Bundoora RSL in Melbourne and it is his 2nd International championships. He is using the Aero Groove s bowl.
Barry plays for Mareeba in Qld and it is his 4th International Competition and he is the official flag bearer. He is using the Drakes Pride Excel.
This team is here to defend its International Championship in the Triples which they won in Perth 2011

Our Fours Team is  Harry Hughes Lead, Ken Read 2nd Michael Barca 3rd and Barry Lynne skip.
They drew 12-12
This team with its 2 new members of Harry and Ken are the defending champions which Barry and Michael were a part of in Perth 2011.

The single and pairs results were a one way affair however the triples and fours were hard fought out games.
Having to play through rain for a period and some unlucky situations had the team dig deep to get the this result,
Day 1 tally equals 3 wins and 1 draw,
The team is hopeful for tomorrow but not overconfident as the greens are still quite foreign in weight and grass.
Tomorrow both the ladies and the Men's team meet the powerhouse England side.

Go Aussie.

Ceremony Day

Today started early with all team members to be on the bus by 8:15am. That meant it was standing room only in the restaurant for breakfast, but we all managed to have another very nice breakfast.
The opening ceremony started at 10am and was finished by about 11:30. Lunch was served at 12 and official practice started at 1pm.
Tomorrow will worse as all players have to be ready by 7:45am. Breakfast will be interesting.
Everyone is getting excited about the competition. The ladies however have a bye to tomorrow while the men take on Ireland.
Below are photos of the opening ceremony.
Hope you are enjoying the reports

First glimpse of the Belmont Bowling green

Everyone met for breakfast and then boarded the players only boarded a bus bound for Belmont Bowling Club.
The green speed was around the 8-9 seconds and so it took quite a while to adjust to it.
Players have either brought their own bowls or have been supported by bowling companies Taylor, Drakes Pride and Aerobowls.
Practise lasted for around 2 hours with the ladies on one green and the men on the other.
Tomorrow we will have the opening ceremony and then practise for 2 hours.

Arriving in Belfast

Well the team has arrived in Belfast after a very long 31 hours of travelling.
Members flew from Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth  and all met in Dubai, then flew together onto Dublin. When we arrived in Dublin there was a coach to transport us to Belfast( 2 hours).

On arrival at the Hilton Belfast it was great to see familiar faces from the from 2011 International Deaf Championships. Also we were all very grateful for the warm welcome from volunteers and Northern Ireland players.

After check in and a much need shower we all met up for a lovely dinner and then a quick meeting for all the players and supports. Great job by the organizing committee  as everything went smoothly.
 The staff at the Hilton are also very helpful.
Saturday morning will be our first practise.
Then the afternoon will see some meetings for some while others head off to explore Belfast.
So far,  there has been light showers and hopefully fine weather will prevail. The temperature is around 18 but it seems a lot warmer than that. The Australian Cricket team booked out of the hotel on the day we arrived. They won so hopefully it is an omen.

Go Aussie.

On 27th August  the Australian Deaf Lawn Bowls Team travels to Belfast for the 7th International Deaf Bowls Championships. Players and supporters are leaving on Emirates flights from Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth and meeting in Dubai.
We will then travel together to Dublin. Once in Dublin we will board our bus which will take us to the Hilton Hotel in Belfast. We should be arriving around 12pm on Friday 28th August.
Please follow us throughout the competition as this blog will have daily updates of results, photos and comments.
We hope you enjoy the experience as much as we will.