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English internationals too strong in triples final: Friday, April 7, 2006 A trio of English internationals has won the women’s triples final at the $100,000 Australian Open bowls tournament in Melbourne. Katherine Hawes, Jean Baker and Catherine Popple, who all played for England at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, combined brilliantly to take the match 8-6, 9-3 at the Darebin International Sports Centre today (7/4). Gold Coast-based qualifiers Barbara Gates, Ann Maree Hardey and Carmen Anderson made a great start when they won the opening two ends to jump out to a 4-0 lead. But from that point the English trio won the next five ends to take the first set. In the second, the class of the English trio was evident as they took the set by six shots. “I was a little bit nervous in the final as I had never played in front of TV cameras before,” said Popple, who skipped the English side. “We noticed in the semi-final that Carmen liked the short jacks so we decided to play three-quarter to longish ends and it worked. Everything just happened for us. “Our all-round team performance has been brilliant throughout the week and we were very solid out there again today.” Both Gates and Anderson are members of the Tweed Heads Bowls Club, while Hardey recently joined Club Helensvale. Anderson, a former winner of the world singles title, said the English side’s tactics of playing long ends proved decisive. “We had to start from scratch by coming through the qualifying tournament so we were all very happy to make the final,” she said. “We got a good start, but we fell apart on the long ends. We just couldn’t find our rhythm. “We had too many short bowls and couldn’t reach the head. That was our problem. “And our opponents were very consistent.”
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