THE men's state selectors have been forced to make major changes to the side announced earlier this month with the withdrawal of Mark Strochnetter (skip) and his number three, David Genford.
Andrew Whitmore, who was named as an emergency, will lead for new skip Tim Douce, and Steve Graf comes into the side playing second for Adam White.
Nick Smith and Robert McMullen, who were both selected in second positions, have been elevated to play third for Douce and White respectively.
The French-Holbrook five test series against Victoria will be played at the Clayton Bowls Club on February 8-10 and will provide excellent experience for our young side, which sees five of the 12 playing in their first representative matches. Besides Whitmore and Graf, the Latrobe trio of Phillip Mundy, Chris Bannon and Nick Smith will all be playing at the next level for the first time.
The side is: Tim Douce (skip), Nick Smith, Simon Zaporozec, Andrew Whitmore; Adam White (s), Robert McMullen, Steve Graf, Phillip Mundy; David McLean (s), Brodie Baker, Chris Bannon, Chris Dudman.
The Victorians are always hard to defeat on their home greens but this time they have also benefited from a five-test series against South Australia earlier this month played at the Wallaroo BC, which resulted in two wins each and a 56-56 draw in the final match.
Two major points of interest in the Big V side are that our former state skip, Bradley Peck, has retained his place in the 12 for the French Holbrook series, after debuting for his new state against SA, and the absence of Mark Jacobsen, who for more than two decades has so often been the nemesis of our bowlers.
Longford stalwart Chris Dudman is one member of the side who can be relied on to impart his vast experience to the newcomers.
He has proved on numerous occasions in the interstate sides championships that he is right up there with the best lead bowlers in the nation and seldom lowers his colours even when playing against Australian squad members.
He has state pairs, triples and state fours (four) to his credit since transferring to Longford in 2003 plus five top division pennants, and has been a regular state representative since 2005.
However, his success has not only been on the outdoor greens, as his indoor bias bowls record is second to none in Australasia.
Playing on the indoor carpets, he has twice captained the Australian side against New Zealand, playing for the biannual Henselite trophy, and he highlights the win in Balclutha, NZ, in 2010 when he captained the side of seven men and seven women to retain the trophy as his proudest moment. He has also won three consecutive Australasian singles championships in addition to the pairs title 14 years ago, when played in Devonport.
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