Trans Tasman 2004 Report

Day 2

The Australian scoring machine continued in the first 4 rounds and at the midway point the score was 87-47 to Australia. Round 14 was another horror round for the Kiwis with only Debbie and Jack achieving wins. In round 15 NZ achieved its first round win against Australia (7-5), but in the last game of the day could only manage 4.

Interesting plays recorded by Olga were:
  • Joan's opening play of the day was tOWHEES, and she said lots of people kept coming over to stare at the board, presumably wondering what the blank was
  • Julian extended HAND to OVERHAND for a useful 51 points
  • Rod's four bonuses STARTLE, LOADERS, COWERING (167), DANGLER, and JEAN (57), ZIP (47), helped him to a high game of 637 against Andrew's 416
  • David got three bingos in a row again - PILSNERS, ANALGIAS, DANEWORT and later ANIMATER
 
In round 10 Glenda played Edward and managed to pick all the good tiles except the Q. After 3 bonuses to Glenda and 2 to Edward, at turn 10 Glenda was 85 points ahead, having played AZO above a double word score, ready to use her N at the next turn for an even handier lead. Alas it was not to be - Edward pounced on the spot and played VINTAGER for 100 points and went on to win 476-450. Have a look at the board.

The Day 2 result was 128-64, with Australia needing only 22.5 more wins on the final day to win the challenge. The best Kiwi performer after day 2 was Jack with 12 wins. The top Australian was Chris on 14 wins.

In the evening an enjoyable dinner was held for the players and supporters at a local Thai restaurant. The food and company were excellent. Olga distributed a number of 'awards' for notable achievements during the previous 2 days. Bob presented Olga with a Scrabble bag in recognition of her sterling efforts as tournament director.