Bowls: Australia takes control of trans-Tasman series

Val Smith playing at the trans-Tasman series in Christchurch. Photo / Supplied

Australia continued their domination of the Men's Trans-Tasman International bowls test series at the Burnside greens in Christchurch today.

Aaron Sheriff started the day off with a 21-9 win over Shannon Mcllroy in the singles and Nathan Rice defeated Paul Girdler in the Fours 14/12.

In the second round Rice, the Australian triples skip, was outstanding and dominated the New Zealand side from the first end to win the Triples 20/8.

Sheriff kept his amazing form up with a 18/6 win over Ali Forsyth in the Pairs.

The only shining light for the New Zealand Men was a last round win by Mcllroy 21/11 in the singles over Sherriff.

The Girdler-skipped fours side were overwhelmed by the Rice's team 29-7. This gave Australia a 5/1 victory in the second test and, with their win yesterday, are in an unbeatable position going into the third test tomorrow.

The New Zealand selectors no doubt have some thinking to do to get the Men's team performing at their best and with winning combinations as they continue their build up for the World Champs in November in Christchurch.

The unavailability of Mike Kernaghan for this series has not helped the New Zealand cause and combinations and no doubt Kernaghan & Tony Grantham will be featuring in the selectors' thinking going forward to November.

The NZ Women went into Day 2 leading the test series but the day belonged to Australia. The two world leading singles players Jo Edwards & Karen Murphy each had a win today with Edwards winning the morning round 21/15 but Murphy getting revenge winning their third round game 21/20.

The Mandy Boyd-skipped fours team started the day with a 20/6 win over Natasha Scott. In the second round Edwards moved to skip the triples - the first time she has played triples for New Zealand in her long career - however she was beaten 20/13 by Natasha Scott.

The New Zealand sister pairs combination of Mandy & Angela Boyd were beaten by Karen Murphy 20/11. In the last game of the second test the Mandy Boyd skipped Fours side was beaten 18/10 by Natasha Scott.

This gave Australia the second test victory making the third test tomorrow the decider as the Kiwi women strive to defend their trans-Tasman trophy, which they won in Christchurch in 2015.

In the Development team test series Australia won the second test and lead the series 2-0.