Corey Wedlock progresses to quarter-finals of South Pacific Carnival

The four matches will see Dylan Skinner face Peter Bonsor, Corey Wedlock play Dave Roberts, Warilla’s Toby Peters take on Aaron Teys and Narooma’s Jay Breust play Daniel Hiscox.

Despite the extreme weather, a high standard of play was maintained throughout the day, with the third round featuring a number of tight finishes.

Daniel Hiscox edged out Wayne Crouch by just one shot to claim a thrilling 25-24 victory, while Peter Bonsor was pushed all the way by a willing Jordan Taylor, eventually claiming a 25-22 victory.

The day’s play began in atrocious conditions, with players contesting the opening round of matches bowling through torrential rain. 

Multiple big guns, including Aaron Teys and Jay Breust, had the luxury of sitting out the first round, however, defending champion Corey Wedlock was not so fortunate. 

Despite this, the two-time defending champion was able to weather both the storm and his opponent to claim a comprehensive 25-13 victory over Wayne Toomey. 

“Normally I’m not too bad in the rain,” Wedlock said. “But I had a new set of bowls, and couldn’t quite grip them.

“I thought I played alright in the conditions, I still didn’t play to my best, but I just did enough to win the three games.”

The morning round of matches also saw Scott Bateup overcome Brendon Aquilina, Greg Jeans take down Jared Hamilton and Jordan Taylor eliminate Tim Cavanough. The dream run of ambidextrous Korean Jimn Lim also came to an end when he fell to Corrimal’s Kevin Ireland. 

As the rain stopped and conditions improved slightly, Wedlock returned to prove why he’s the favourite to win his third straight title. The Cabramatta bowler dominated Adam Favell 25-8. Despite this, Wedlock concedes he will have to continue to improve to hold off his rivals and lift the trophy on Friday.

Title contender and four-time winner Shane Garvey dominated Brett Pieper in the opening round before picking up a second round victory over Matt Miles. However, Garvey’s run came to a halt when he faced Dave Roberts in the third round. Roberts claimed a 25-16 victory over the Wiseman Park bowler to set up a quarter-final with Wedlock.

“I don’t know too much about him,” Wedlock said. “But he beat Garvey, so he must go pretty good. We’ll just see how we go on the day.”

2014 champion Aaron Teys also played to a high level in his second round victory over Stephen Munce. Teys then easily accounted for Geoff McIntyre in the third round to set up Wednesday’s clash with Peters.

Former child prodigy Dylan Skinner proved that he’s a contender when he defeated defending pairs champion Bateup, while Breust overcame talented 26-year-old Jesse Noronha to book his place in Wednesday’s quarter-finals.