Bowls: Experienced skip targets title

Ces Bell will be the oldest member of the Taradale men's bowls team in Auckland this weekend. Photo / Paul Taylor

It's a huge call to make but, because it has come from Hawke's Bay bowler Ces Bell, take note.

"We're going there to win. There's a good team feeling, there are no big heads and there are no stars," Bell replied when quizzed about his Taradale division one team's chances at the national interclub sevens finals in Auckland this weekend. "We've got a really settled team. We'll be trying our hardest and will leave nothing out there," Bell continued.

When it comes to bowls Bell, 70, has been there and done that so his confidence levels command respect. Three national titles, multiple centre titles and multiple club titles are scattered throughout his 30-year bowling CV which first had entries posted in 1965.

He is the oldest of the Taradale team and will skip the pair which will also include his regular lead Ken Smith. The youngest of the team, 20-year-old national rep Richard Hocking, has the singles role while Phil Young will skip the four, which will have fellow experienced campaigners Frank Grantham and Lloyd Fitness at three and two respectively and former New Zealand squash representative Paul Viggers at lead. "Paul hasn't played bowls that long but you could tell he had played another sport at an elite level when he first picked it up ... he is really keen too."

Bell took up bowls at the Aramoho club with his father Ces Bell Senior. One of the biggest claims to fame for the 1992 winning skip at the prestigious Taranaki Open Fours tournament is skipping teams which regularly included three-time world champion and two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Peter Belliss.

"I probably played as much bowls with Peter as anybody else," he recalled.

Before joining Bowls Taradale two years ago, Bell played at the Omarunui, Marewa and Napier clubs in the Bay. Smith followed him to Taradale from the Napier club last year.

One of his three national titles was won with a Marewa team at a national interclub sevens tournament hosted by the old Wairere club in Napier. This weekend his team will take on the Central Otago, Waikato and Gisborne East Coast representatives in section play at the Howick club on Saturday and the top team from this will qualify for Sunday's quarter-finals at Carlton Cornwall.

"I know some of the other 23 teams have some big names but in bowls it's not always about names. It's always about the team which has the most bowls closest to that little white thing at the other end," former Bowls Hawke's Bay board member Bell explained.

He pointed out his team could have travelled north with experienced Hawke's Bay rep Neil Barron in the singles berth because he withdrew from the Hawke's Bay centre playoffs with an injury. However, the team voted to go with the team which earned the right to play in Auckland.

Taradale will also be represented in the 23-team division one competition which will begin with section play against Marlborough's Havelock, Papakura and Manawatu's Northern at the Hillsborough club on Saturday. Former Heretaunga player Natarsha Grimshaw will play lead for the Papakura pair and multiple world champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sharon Sims is the pairs skip for Northern.

Two other Bay teams will also be in division two play in Auckland. Heretaunga men will take on Waikato's Frankton Railway, Nelson's Stoke, and Dunedin's Caversham in section play for 23 teams at Pakuranga. Bay View women will meet Wellington's Eastbourne, Nelson's United and Canterbury's Parklands in their 20-team section play at Balmoral. Division two post section play will also be at the Carlton Cornwall club.

Hawke's Bay teams:

Taradale men: Richard Hocking, Ces Bell, Ken Smith, Phil Young, Frank Grantham, Lloyd Fitness, Paul Viggers.

Taradale women: Alison Lott, Lilian Tukiri, Sheryl Glock, Louise Fitness, Barbara Exeter, Sheryl Viggers, Cheryl Humphrey.

Heretaunga men: Peter Ramsey, Mike Isaacson, Pat O'Neil, Bruce Stewart, Denis Biggs, Frank Golder, Bruce O'Sullivan.

Bay View women: Colleen Black, Bev Withers, Barbara Clark, Mere Nepia, Di Bentley, MJ Richard, Marion Choat.