Australian Premier League glory to Mac's jacks

KIWIS RULE: The New Zealand Blackjacks team won the Australian Premier League in Brisbane. Pictured is former Gisborne man Shannon McIlroy. New Zealand defeated Adelaide Thunder to win the title and $44,000. Pictures supplied by Bowls NZ

A CAREER that began in Gisborne at just five years of age reached another high for Shannon McIlroy at the weekend.

Many Gisborne lawn bowlers were glued to Sky TV to the early hours of the morning watching the now 28-year-old and his Tower New Zealand Blackjacks team win an enthralling Australian Premier League final at Brisbane’s Club Pine Rivers.

McIlroy, Jo Edwards and Australia-based Ali Forsyth defeated the Adelaide Endurance in a final decided by a tie-breaker — 6-3, 8-0, 1-0.

In the third edition of a league described as the twenty20 of lawn bowls, New Zealand topped an otherwise Australian line-up of Adelaide (Thunder), Perth (Suns), Brisbane (Gold), Gold Coast (Hawks), Melbourne (Roys), Sydney (Lions) and Murray (Steamers).

The Kiwis top qualified with nine wins from 14 rounds of section play but faced the historical hurdle of having been eliminated in the semifinals in the previous two APLs.

That loomed again when they were beaten 2-7, 9-2, 0-1 by Adelaide in the top-two semifinal. Adelaide advanced directly to the final while the Blackjacks faced Melbourne in an elimination semi.

The Roys came out firing to blank the New Zealanders 8-0 but with Forsyth finding his best form of the tournament at the ideal time, the Blackjacks rallied to win the next set 4-3 and the tiebreaker 1-0.

In following the theme of a tournament, which produced a large number of tiebreakers, the final was a classic.

The Blackjacks won the first set 6-3 only for Adelaide to storm back to whitewash their transtasman rivals 8-0 in the second. Forsyth embodied the “cometh the honour, cometh the man” quote with the bowl of the tournament in the tiebreaker, driving the jack into the ditch to grab shot and victory.

A lucrative win for the BlackjacksThe win earned the Blackjacks NZ$44,000.

Edwards’ role in the win was widely applauded. The five-time world cup singles champion and two-time world pairs champion was the only woman in the tournament, and some felt she should have been named the most valuable player. That, instead, went to Gold Coast player Mark Casey,

“I’ve been pretty lucky enough to a win a few things in my career but this will hold a special place in my heart,” said Edwards.

Edwards, who also featured in the two previous editions of the APL in 2013 and 2014, said it was not easy playing alongside the men. The more attacking nature of the men’s game took time to adjust to.

“I don’t believe a woman should be any worse than a man but the fact is that across the board the guys do play to a higher level,” she said. “I don’t know why that is and it is bloody annoying. What I want to show to others is that if you dream and practise hard it doesn’t matter whether you are a bloke or a Sheila, you can play great bowls.”

Working with NZ mental skills coach John Quinn played a massive part in smoothing her transition. As had the close relationship she had with Forsyth and McIlroy.

For much of his career Forsyth was based in Edwards’ home town of Nelson while McIlroy has lived in the same South Island city for the best part of the last decade.

McIlroy was destined to represent his country at the highest level. Developing his skills in the Gisborne East Coast centre and through the Poverty Bay and Kaiti clubs, McIlroy was quickly identified by Bowls NZ as a talent of the future.

The Lytton High School student progressed successfully through the ranks to live up to the 2003 prediction of GEC selector and former New Zealand representative Robin Jefferson that he would play for his country at the highest level.