Bowls: All uphill for bowlers after host's rosy day

LONDON - The New Zealand men's and women's bowls teams endured a disastrous day in the test series against England yesterday.

The women's side lost 1-2 at the Stratford-upon-Avon Bowling Club with only the unbeaten Marlene Castle holding up the New Zealand effort.

The New Zealand women are now 1-3 behind in the seven-test series.

The men are level at two-all with their English counterparts after suffering a 0-3 loss yesterday.

Kerry Chapman lost 14-21 in the singles, Paul Girdler and Russell Meyer went down 20-21 in the pairs and the four lost 14-29.

"The greens were pretty dead today but we just played too many short bowls.

"But we're fighters and we're taking this series very seriously," men's manager Peter Kean said.

"This isn't just about trialling for the Commonwealth Games.

"It is vitally important for the players to produce form and vital for combinations to emerge."

In the women's matches, the move to bring Patsy Jorgensen into the pair and play Wendy Jensen in the four failed, with the four losing 6-31 and the pair going down 20-26.

Kean said it was unfortunate that an eighth player had not been brought over in the women's squad to allow a few different combinations to be tried when things were not going well.

The fifth test of the series was played early today.

- NZPA