Goulburn's Ellen Ryan was recently handed a golden opportunity to qualify for the 2020 Bowls World Championships, when she was named in the Australian team for the 2020 Trans Tasman Test series next February.
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On Tuesday, Bowls Australia announced that Ryan was the lead bowler in its Women's Triples and Women's Fours teams for the upcoming series, which will take place from February 3 to February 5, 2020.
The 22-year-old's selection comes off the back of her incredible recent form, which includes victories in the 2019 Multi-Nations series and the 2019 Trans Tasman Development series.
"It's been a massive November, so it's good to be announced in [the Australian] team after all that," Ryan said.
The lead is a critical position in the sport of bowls, and though Ryan felt a little trepidation about the faith placed in her by Bowls Australia, she expressed excitement about the opportunity.
"I usually do lead in most events, so that's probably my preferred role," Ryan said.
"It will be scary going into it, it's my first time making the five, but I'm really looking forward to playing with the other girls, getting a bit of experience, and having a bit of fun too."
During her time with the Australian development team last month, Ryan played a key role in the Australian women's three-point win, 95 to 92, over New Zealand, and was named the Overall Women's Development Champion.
This experience, Ryan said, gave her both confidence and knowledge which she hopes will prove useful come February.
"I hope so, it was up on the Gold Coast, on the Helensvale, Musgrave, and Broadbeach greens, so it gave me a bit of a sniff of the paces of the different greens," she said.
"I played the New Zealand girls in the Multi-Nations as well, so I sort of know what I'm up for. I've also played with the Aussie girls before, so we know each other pretty well."
The 2020 Trans Tasman series will be played as a supporting event to the 2020 World Championships, and Ryan knows that a strong performance against the Kiwis could see her locked in as a Jackaroo for the biggest tournament in the world, which will begin on May 23.
"Hopefully I can just perform well and keep doing what I've been doing," she said.
"I'll keep my fingers crossed for worlds, anything could happen. There's still a really good squad in bowls, plenty of girls are knocking on the door to make that five."
In mid-2018, Ryan became the youngest woman to reach Australia's number one ranking. Since then, she has tumbled to 34th in the country, but opponents should not be fooled into thinking her drop was a result of poor form.
"It depends on ranking points, not everything's ranked that I play in," Ryan said.
"It all depends on the events you play in. A lot of the events I was in didn't have the ranking points available."
Despite her relative lack of ranked tournaments in recent months, Ryan has been kept fresh by playing against high quality opponents, even within her own district, including distinguished names like Karen Murphy, Kay Moran, and Kelsey Cottrell.
Taking into account her recent form, Ryan is primed for a strong run when the Trans Tasman series gets underway.
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