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Tasmanians take Australian pairs title: Thursday, April 6, 2006 Tasmania’s Mark Nitz and Mark Strochnetter won the Australian Open pairs title in a tie-breaker in Melbourne this afternoon (6/4). The duo beat Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Barrie Lester and Nathan Rice at the Darebin International Sports Centre to record their second consecutive victory in Bowls Australia’s grand prix events. Last September the Tasmanians won the Moama Grand Prix, again beating Lester and Rice in the final in a tie-breaker. “Given the quality of the field in this event I would have to rate this as one of my best weeks of bowls,” said Strochnetter. “It was nice to finish it off and get the result in the final.” Nitz and Strochnetter made a positive start to the match, winning the first three ends, but then dropped the maximum four shots on the fifth to trail 3-5. They hit back with two more shots on the 6th to draw level, but Rice responded with some great deliveries to take the set 8-6. The Tasmanian pair set the pace in the second, winning six of the nine ends to take the set 7-5 and force the match into a best-of-three-ends shoot-out. On the second end of the tie-breaker Strochnetter played a perfect running shot to pick-up the jack and wrap-up the match 6-8, 7-5, 2-0. The win gives Strochnetter, 28, and a member of the Longford Bowling Club in Launceston, his second national title. He won the Australian SuperSingles in 2002. A member of the Burnie Bowls Club, 27-year-old Nitz claimed his first national crown. “Nathan Rice played two of the best bowls you will ever see towards the end of that first set,” said Nitz. “It was those conversion shots that won them the set.” “We both improved in the second set,” said Strochnetter. “I was quite happy with my conversions shots and I usually had one or two bowls to work with.” Rice said he was not too disappointed as he felt that both he and Lester had played as well as they could in what were difficult conditions. “Their lead was very steady throughout the game and Mark Strochnetter was really burning,” he said. “In those conditions he shouldn’t have been playing the shots he was playing.”
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