Dreams of national selection have become a reality for local Mount Gambier indoor bowlers Fiona and Keisha Pearson and Serena Bourn after being selected in the Australian Indoor Bias Bowls team.
The announcement comes after Mount Gambier District Indoor Bowls Association bowlers Fiona Pearson, Keisha Pearson, Serena Bourn and Zac Pearson took part in three days of intense trials in Ballarat on the weekend.
At the trials they had to play in front of the Australian selectors, who then chose the Australian team.
Zac missed out on selection, but Fiona, Keisha and Serena were successful in their national bid.
Their main challenge was to convert play from a standard 30 foot carpet to the international 24 foot carpet; this suited them at the trials as their favoured game is to play a short end.
Only seven men and seven women were selected to form the Australian test team.
Australia competes in a Trans Tasman test against New Zealand every two years and both countries hold the test on a rotating basis.
This year the test is to be held in Pukekohe in New Zealand, from May 9-11.
Fiona said she was excited when she was selected for the fourth time to represent Australia, with her daughter Keisha representing her country for the second time.
Serena said she was jubilant when she was selected to debut in the Australian team.
The three of them walked away thrilled knowing they were to play at the highest level the game of indoor bowls can be played in Australia.
Fiona will be playing lead in eight bowls mixed pair’s team with Kyle French from Queensland, who has won many gold medals for Australia in his past test appearances.
Fiona then doubles up and represents Australia playing Ladies Singles.
Keisha will play as a lead in the Ladies Triples team with Tasmania’s Lynda Charles and Victorian Anne Draffen skippering.
Keisha will then double up leading in the Ladies fours team with Charles, Draffen and Monica Korn from NSW skippering.
Serena will represent her country as a reserve.
The trio said being the only three South Australians in the team they would try their best to hopefully win the gold medals in the test series.
