Bowls: Close match excites in centre pairs final

Gwen Lawson rounds up bowling news.

Sixty teams took part in the centre pairs at the weekend. Sixteen teams qualified in the men's section and six in the women's. In the men's final between Gordon Bond, Dean McMurchy, and Kevin Robinson and Wayne Wrack, Bond began with singles on the first four ends and after eight ends the score was 8-5 to Bond.

On the seventh end they scored three shots and on the ninth end four shots to give them a handy 13-5 lead. Robinson then scored on the next four ends to bring the scores to 13-10 and two shots each on the next four ends resulted in a victory to Bond and McMurchy by 1-12. Outstanding lead bowls by both teams saw the head change on almost every end. The skips also chipped in and the strategic driving and outstanding draw shots delighted the crowd.

In the first round of post section play, Nelson/Brewster (Hikurangi) beat Collett/Hamlin (Whangarei) 24-14; Dunn/Connell (Onerahi) beat van Haaften/Bowmar (Onerahi) 18-7; Robinson/Wrack (Maungaturoto) beat Bowick/Horscroft (Onerahi) 22-5; Doreen/Lawrence (Hikurangi) beat Webb/Lewis (Arapohue) 22-8; McMurchy/Lyddiard (Kensington) beat Booth/Tito (Mangawhai) 15-14; Mitchell/Wyatt (Hikurangi) beat Reesby/Walker (Leigh) 14-13; Bond/McMurchy (Kensington) beat Trimmer/Nicholson (Kamo) 24-7; Fitness/Cameron (Hikurangi) bt Hunt/Williams (Mangawhai) 20-17.

Round 2: Dunn beat Nelson 17-14; Robinson beat Dorreen 18-15; McMurchy beat Mitchell 22-14; Bond beat Fitness 14-12.

Round 3: Robinson bt Dunn 20-16; Bond bt McMurchy 14-7.

Final: Bond bt Robinson 15-12.

In the women's division, Yovich/Wright (Kamo) and Parker/Strawbridge (Kensington) had the byes. Bateman/Stewart (Hikurangi) beat Muir/Murray (Kensington) 19-7; Horscroft/Ganley (Kensington) beat Attwood/Brewster (Kensington) 19-9.

Round 2: Yovich beat Parker 18-10, Bateman beat Horscroft 16-10.

The final saw Bateman and Stewart score four on the first end and after six ends were out to an 11-nil lead. Yovich and Wright really had no answer for the immaculate draw bowls played by lead Leanne Stewart and Anne Bateman.

Congratulations to Gordon Bond on his 36th centre title, Anne Bateman her 25th, Leanne Stewart her third, and Dean McMurchy a first.

Invitation pairs

Several Northland combinations competed in the Cliff Shanks Memorial Invitation Pairs at Hillsborough Bowling Club and congratulations to Ken Fitness who coupled up with Ray Brown from Auckland to be third equal in the main event; to Steve Smith and David Hood who were second in the plate and to Sam Nelson and Steve Mitchell who won the flight.

Open singles

Te Kopuru Club held their open singles last Friday. Peter Dorreen won the main event and Ken Fitness the plate.

The North Island Chartered Clubs Tournament for women has attracted 84 teams and starts in Wellington on Monday. Good bowling to Maureen Parker, Gwen Lawson, Amy Burgess, Diane Lawrence (Kamo); Kris Wintle, Sue Wightman, June Wilson and Jane Walker (Mangawhai) who will be showing the flag for Northland.

Auckland open The Auckland Centre New Zealand Trust sponsored open starts next Thursday with 28 players from the Northland centre taking part.

Reminder

The next event on the centre calendar is the centre open fours to be played at the Mangawhai greens on November 16 and 17. Entries close today.