The Australians were dominant yesterday. The trio from across the Tasman all reached the semifinals of the North East Valley Invitation singles.
Jamie Hill (Auckland) won a nailbiter against Blake Signal (Stokes Valley) 25-24 and is the only New Zealander to survive the Australian quarterfinals onslaught in the Speight's-sponsored event.
Shaun Scott (North East Valley) came close but was beaten 25-23 when Mark Casey drew four shots on the 29th end to win the game.
Scott, a double New Zealand singles champion, looked to have the game in his grasp when he scored five shots from the 25th to 28th ends to lead 23-21.
But the experienced Casey (33), who has played 227 tests for Australia, kept his cool and placed four bowls loosely around the jack on the final end.
He displayed his steel temperament by drawing the winning shot with his last bowl.
''I was concerned when Shaun got to the front,'' Casey said.
''Shaun is a quality player and a New Zealand champion. But I always stay reasonably calm in these situations.''
He was pleased about the Australian clean sweep.
''We didn't expect to do this well on foreign greens,'' Casey said.
''All the boys are pretty happy and looking forward to tomorrow.''
The youngster of the Australian team is Aaron Wilson, who had the easiest win when he downed Justin Goodwin (Wellington) 25-15.
Wilson (23) made the Jackaroos squad for the first time this year and this was his second visit to New Zealand. He played in the Burnside pairs in Christchurch last summer.
He took control of the game early and led 19-4 after 13 ends before Goodwin added seven shots on the next three ends to reduce the gap to seven points.
Wilson put the game out of reach of Goodwin with four shots on the 17th end and won the game with a two three ends later.
''I got away early and kept the lead,'' Wilson said.
''I feel confident and will give it my best shot tomorrow.''
Brett Wilkie made it a clean sweep for Australia when he came from behind to beat experienced Black Jack Tony Grantham (Auckland) 25-20.
Grantham led 14-8 after 14 but Wilkie used his vast experience to come back strongly to score 10 shots on the next six ends to lead 18-14.
The Aucklander went back into the lead with a two and four on the next two ends to edge ahead 20-18.
Wilkie (41), who won a fours gold medal at World Bowls at Adelaide in 2012, demonstrated his class by taking control to score seven shots on the last four ends.
''Tony had a good start and got a little break but I felt I could get back it the game,'' Wilkie said.
''It was 20-all and anyone's game but I was lucky enough to finish with four good ends.''
He felt the green was a bit tricky.
''I just tried to throw the jack to an area where I was confident of playing to,'' Wilkie said.
''It worked for me.''
Hill had command of his game against Signal when he led 18-12 after 16 ends.
But the tenacious Signal came back strongly to score nine shots on the next four ends to take the lead for the first time 21-18.
Signal scored a three on the 25th end to lead 24-20 and had shots on the head when Hill killed two ends with ferocious drives.
Hill added a three and two on the last two ends to win the game.
Former champions Shannon McIlroy (Nelson) and Mike Kernaghan (North East Valley) both failed to qualify for the main event despite winning five of their seven games.
