Monday, December 27, 2010

Bowls prodigy teams with star

A Common wealth Games lawn bowls silver medallist and a 12-year-old genius from Bomaderry will team up in the Summerland Pairs contest at the Ballina Bowling Club opening today.Brett Wilkie, 36, is fresh from his 2010 Commonwealth Games success and 12-year-old Dylan Skinner arrives in Ballina with the tribute of being the youngest player to be named in the NSW Under-18 squad.Both have their sights set on a win in the pairs now that other bowls commitments have ruled them out of the Summerland Singles at Ballina next weekend.

Wilkie is excited about pairing up for the first time with a lad 24 years his junior.“I have high expectations. We have met once before and spoken a few times over the phone,” Wilkie said.“We have the same support and he asked me if I would pair up with Dylan.“It was an offer too good to refuse.“When I was his age I valued playing with older players.“The experience and skills that I picked up along the way have been invaluable.“We haven’t played together before so we’ll meet up and work out a bit of a game plan before play.”

Dylan is also fired-up and ready to go.“I can’t wait to get out there and have a roll,” Dylan said.“I started bowling when I was six.“I am very devoted – I try to practise every day.”Dylan took out his club singles and pairs titles as well as the zone championship and was selected in the NSW original open team this year.He and Wilkie expect plenty of competition on the green today with more than 200 bowlers coming from across Australia for a slice of the $20,000 prizemoney.Sydney bowlers Ray Pearse and Ben McCall will be among Wilkie and Dylan’s biggest rivals.

No comments:

Post a Comment