Two up: Quirky Canadian bowler Michel Larue will return to competition at the Burden Park Bowling Club on Monday as his national side prepares for the Commonwealth Games.By Glen Atwell
TEAM Canada will roll back onto the greens at Burden Park Bowling Club next Monday, as the international side prepares to launch an attack on Commonwealth Games gold later this month.
A Labour Day showdown between the Canadians and the Burden Park Chairman’s XI has been scheduled after Canadian team manager Bob North enthusiastically accepted an invitation for a return match.
International bowling at Burden Park is a major coup for the Springvale-based club and despite the Labour Day match being billed as a ‘friendly’, the Canadians will definitely be searching for winning form.
Last November, the Burden Park premier side staged a thrilling 4-2 victory, defeating Team Canada that struggled to adapt to the fast-paced nature of the Australian greens.
However a week after the competition the Canadians went on to win gold at the Asia-Pacific Championships and North attributed the victory to the Burden Park practice match.
“The competition at Burden Park before the Asia-Pacific Championships definitely helped us win the men’s overall gold medal and Ryan Bester’s singles gold medal,” he said.
“Hopefully it will do the same for the Commonwealth Games.
“We’re looking forward this time to taking the Burden Park Chairman’s Trophy back to Canada with us.”
This time, Team Canada will step onto the Burden Park greens without the dilemma of having never played down under.
Two of the Canadians, Mark Sandford and 20-year-old Asia Pacific gold medallist Bester have spent the past three months playing Premier League lawn bowls in New South Wales and have well and truly adjusted to the inherent speed of the Aussie greens.
Burden Park chairman Mitch Meyer said Bester hadn’t returned to Canada since arriving in Australia last November.
“He left Australia for a short time to compete in a tournament in New Zealand,” he said.
“He and Sandford have settled in well playing in New South Wales, so the competition will be tough.”
However he added that the Burden Park side selected to put the Canadians through their paces was of the highest standard.
“Our squad beat the Canadians last time and many saw that as something of an upset, but we did have a home-ground advantage,” he said.
“The objective of the competition is not only to build good relations with international representative players, but also to provide and foster competition at the highest level for both Team Canada and ourselves.”
The last encounter attracted a crowd of more than 200 and Meyer said the quality of the bowling attracted plenty of local attention.
“The Canadians have experience, youth and flair,” he said.
“They play an exciting style of bowls, especially Ryan (Bester) who has one of the fastest and most accurate drives in the world.
“Add former women’s juniors champion Leanne Chinery and quirky French-Canadian Michel Larue into the mix and it’s worth coming to see.
“I rate Team Canada a solid medal chance in all disciplines at the Commonwealth Games.”
The event will be held this Monday, 13 March and will begin at about 2pm, with a barbecue to follow the competition.
The Burden Park Bowling Club is on the corner of Springvale and Heatherton Roads.
