Australia-New Zealand Para double-header among final Bowls match-ups
The penultimate day of Glasgow 2026’s bowls competition decided the finalists across four categories, with an Australia v New Zealand double-header among Sunday’s gold medal matches.
The action in Hall Three on Saturday also set up the finals in the Women’s Singles and Men’s Pairs.
Ali Merrien of Guernsey will take on England’s Katherine Rednall in the former, while Northern Ireland’s Gary Kelly and Adam McKeown face Nick Brett and Jamie Walker of England in the latter.
“It's all just surreal,” said New Zealand skip Kurt Smith who, alongside Mark Noble, made it through to the Para Men’s Pairs B6-B8 category final by defeating England’s Kieran Rollings and Joe Peplow.
“It's my debut here at the Commonwealth Games, so to be in the gold-medal match is unreal.”
Noble claimed silver at Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018, and is hoping to upgrade that medal here.
“We’ve been having a good time, but in the end everyone's trying to win," he said. "We'll be out there tomorrow giving it our best. It would mean the world (to win gold) – Kiwis are proud and we want to try and get that gold for our country.”
They will be up against Australia pair Damien Delgado and James Reynolds, who beat Scotland's Garry Brown and Stuart Sloan.
The Australian Para Women’s Pairs B6-B8 also defeated Scotland in their semi-final, and Serena Bonnell, playing with Louise Hoskins, knew they would need to work hard to keep the home supporters quiet and get the small band of Aussie fans on their feet.
“We had a pretty good crowd (backing Australia),” Bonnell said. “We were focusing on silencing that home crowd – when you silence a crowd, you know you're doing the right thing.”
Approaching ‘the big dance’
The Men’s Pairs final is the first gold-medal match of the session - "the big dance" according to Adam McKeown.
“This is the pinnacle of our sport, so if we can contribute to Northern Ireland's medal tally I’d be ecstatic,” he said.
England's Nick Brett is expecting a tough final against familiar opponents.
“We've got the utmost respect for them," he said. "I'm a similar age to (Northern Ireland's) Gary (Kelly), so growing up I played against him a lot.
"They're six wins from six, same as us, so it's going to be whoever plays best on the day. There might be a bit of lady luck here and there, but I hope it's a good game and we come out on top."
In the Women's Singles, Brett's compatriot Rednall and Guernsey's Merrien are two of the most experienced and successful Bowls players on the circuit, but neither have a Commonwealth Games gold medal in their collection.
“When the groups came out, I described mine as the group of death, so getting out of the group was the main achievement," Rednall said.
"I've got a medal, so I'm just going to enjoy it tomorrow and go for gold.”
Those sentiments are echoed by Merrien.
“To get to the final is amazing," she said. "I'm happy with where I am. It's the first time I've had a Commonwealth Games medal; I'll hopefully take the right mindset into tomorrow's game and, and see what happens.”
