Wairarapa senior men's bowls selector David Petersen was delighted with the strong showing of his side at an inter-provincial tournament played at the Hutt Valley Bowling Club on Sunday.
The closeness of the competition was evidenced by the fact that Wellington City, Wairarapa and Hutt Valley all finished with five wins
and 10pts and final placings had to be decided on sets won. Wellington City had 13, Wairarapa 10.5 and Hutt Valley 8. Trailing the field with just the three victories were Wellington invitation
"We were competitive all the way through, it was a very encouraging effort," Petersen said.
Leading off in the pair for Wairarapa was Laurie Field and his consistency made him a standout player. He and skip John Claydon won two of their three matches with Claydon thriving on the excellent start given him by Field.
Singles player Ian Monaghan also played some splendid bowls in chalking up two wins against very formidable opposition and the triple of Peter McGillicuddy, Les O'Donovan and Warren Fisher struck back after two losses to win their third match.
The women's section saw Wellington invitation top the table with 14pts, followed by Wellington City 12, Hutt Valley 6 and Wairarapa 4.
Shona Wilkie scored one of the two Wairarapa wins with the other coming from the triple of Jean Paku, Shirley Carew and Maria Steffert. The pair of Judith Wyeth and Darkie Barrow lost all three of their games.
Two Wairarapa development squad men's teams played two Wellington teams at the Masterton club on Sunday and while the locals picked up only three wins overall selector Warren Wyeth is sure they will learn from the experience. "It's a different level from what most of our players are used to and most of them coped well in the circumstances," Wyeth said.
Wins for Wairarapa were secured by the triples teams of John Harmon, Nathan Bowden and George Littlejohn and Peter Walker, John Patterson and Blain Stark-Walker playing the winning shot with the very last bowl of the game and the pair of Skip Davies and Rex Wood.
