On the mats: cousins off to pairs zone final

Winners of the Poverty Bay East Coast final Kayla Trowell and Dylan Foster have earned a place at the zone finals in Whakatane of the New Zealand mixed pairs indoor bowls competition. The Gisborne cousins have been prolific centre title winners and will compete for a chance to go all the way to the national finals. Picture supplied

Dylan Foster and his Cousin Kayla Trowell were in command all day to win the local final of the New Zealand mixed pairs competition for the second year in a row, by a margin of 9-2 against Warren Gibb and Lois Lamont.

After three of the nine-end final, Foster and Trowell were in the lead 3-2, due to some sensational bowling by Foster. He was three shots down on end three, but by the time his bowls were finished he had gained shot.

This continued throughout the game, with Gibb and Lamont holding shots, only for Foster to take the points. The only end Gibb won was the second when he picked up 2 points.

To reach the final, Dylan and Kayla defeated their nana Kaye Easton and Dylan’s dad Mike Foster, before notching up a impressive 10-4  win over Jay Casey and Rachael Rickard.

This was Dylan’s 17th centre title and Kayla’s 9th, with Kayla being in the winning mixed pairs team five times in the last six years.

They will now represent Poverty Bay East Coast in the zone final of the NZ Mixed Pairs in Whakatane in July against Tauranga, Thames Valley, Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

Meanwhile, David Lynn notched up his 149th centre title at the weekend, winning the Southpac Trucks Centre Open Singles 10-5 against Andrew Rickard.

Lynn has not been on form for some years but finally struck form, winning all four games to qualify for the sudden death play-offs. From there, he got better as he went, defeating Rachael Rickard before turning on the pace against Kayla Trowell, winning that game 9-1 in the semifinals.

In the final over nine ends, Andrew Rickard picked up 2 points on the first end, but Lynn played superb draw bowls from then on, putting pressure on Rickard who killed the kitty twice , giving 2 points away on ends two and three. He then pushed a Lynn bowl into the head to give Lynn 3 shots on end four, meaning Lynn was 7-2 up after just four ends. By end seven, Lynn was 10-3 up. He reduced Rickard to just 2 shots on end eight and they shook hands.

Title 150 is getting nearer for Lynn.  A big celebration will be on the cards when this happens.