Bowler in top company

Former Australian representative Ian Taylor (Kingscliff), who 17-year-old Ballina hope Reece Wilson will play in the quarter-finals today.

CATHY ADAMS

BALLINA has two through to the quarter-finals of the Summerland Singles after 17-year-old Reece Wilson pulled a rabbit out of his hat to progress.

Wilson trailed 16-10 and then 20-16 in the race to 21 but produced poise beyond his years to defeat Abdul Latif and set up a dream match against the renowned Ian Taylor today.

The local prodigy said he would be thrilled to face the former Australian champion and hoped he could sneak under the radar and cause an upset.

“It will be an honour to take on one of the greats,” Wilson said.

“I will just concentrate on playing well and hopefully that will get me a win.”

A spot in the quarter-finals looked highly unlikely late yesterday with Latif leading by six and holding one shot over Wilson with just one bowl to come from the Ballina youngster.

But Wilson sent down the perfect shot, deflecting his opponent’s bowl away from the jack and scoring four for himself to burst back into it.

“I never lost hope, I knew I just had to keep plugging away and I would get my chance,” he said.

“When I scored that four I was back in it and I took plenty of confidence from that.”

Earlier in the day Wilson only just made it out of his section when he added the scalp of New Zealand international Bruce McNish to his resume, prevailing 21-19 in a thriller.