Where is the speed and youth in the Havelock North bowls team which will play in the Tiger Turf $20,000 national final in Auckland today?
The question had to be asked because this event is a fast-moving, shorter version of the usual bowls game with a 30 second time limit between shots. It's the bowls equivalent of one-day cricket.
The Havelock North trio which won the Hawke's Bay-Gisborne East Coast regional final consists of two 75-year-olds, Ian Mason and Dudley Hunt, and the team's "baby" and tactician, 72-year-old Bruce Stewart. "We'll definitely be the oldest team there. Hopefully the other seven teams will write us off," Stewart quipped.
The first Hawke's Bay team to qualify for the national final in the three-year history of the event, Havelock North was one of 16 teams to play in the Hawke's Bay qualifier at the Kia Toa club. They lost one game on the way to win-ning the regional final in Gisborne.
Today, the eight teams will be divided into two pools of four for section play. The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the semifinals and the two teams which make the final will play for the first prize of $1500.