JUST three weeks ago, young lawn bowler Isaiah Bettess spoke of his aspirations to represent the country and, after a successful outing at the Australian School Championships, that dream is now a reality of sorts.
While the 18 year-old has higher aspirations, a selection in the All-Australian team after a dominant Victorian triumph was just what the doctor ordered.
Bettess played down the achievement but was happy with Victoria’s performance, winning the tournament 46.5 points to New South Wales 25.5.
“It’s a step towards making the national team, it puts my name out a bit … I’m gonna keep pushing, regionals next year and a lot of state events in the Sunraysia area, I’m going to try to win some of them,” he said.
“Last year, I didn’t play in it but we got thrashed apparently, so it was good to get them back.”
It was just Victoria and NSW left after Queensland pulled out of the event.
Bettess won all of his pairs games and dropped just one of his three singles games in Tweed Heads, a NSW venue he was grateful to play at.
His team was dominant throughout the tournament, reflected by seven selections out of the possible ten in the All-Australian team.
“It was a really good facility, a fast green, nice weather and a little but windy which cooled it down so that was good … it was probably one of the best facilities I have bowled at,” he said.
“It was good to see seven of us selected in the All-Australian team too, that was well deserved, we all played really well.”
