Bowls: Bay dominate in Northern bowls

By Graham Skellern

Bay of Plenty bowlers completed the double when the women won the Northern Regional League, even though they were headed by Waikato in their fourth-day clash at Tauranga yesterday.

Waikato registered two more wins than Bay of Plenty but the Bay's 18 match points were enough for victory.

Bay of Plenty had a total of 74 points, to Waikato's 69, Auckland 65, Counties Manukau 53, North Harbour 52, Thames Valley 471/2, Northland 45 and Far North 421/2.

Earlier, Bay of Plenty men won on the countback from Auckland.

The Auckland women, joint overnight leaders with Bay of Plenty, could not make enough progress after a close tussle with Counties Manukau at Manurewa before winning nine matches to seven.

The seniors drew 4-all and the Auckland Academy team won 5-3. The Counties seniors showed their depth by winning the two fours matches, the Karren Forrest-skipped side beating New Zealand representative Judith Payne 21-10 and Pat Mahon's team picking up two shots on the final end to beat the Barbara Lyon-skipped combination 23-22.

The singles were shared with another national representative Anne Lomas having a fine 31-17 victory over Auckland's Dianne Harris, and in the clash between two New Zealand Academy squad members Auckland's Carol Griffiths beat Wendy Jensen 31-24.

Bay of Plenty had further success when the Mt Manganui men qualified for the national inter-club final after a tense zone two qualifier in Matamata on Saturday.

Mt Maunganui, Tokoroa and Pukekohe were all tied on three wins. But in the countback Mt Maunganui edged ahead of Tokoroa by two shots. The Mount's Kevin Maxfield had scored a vital singles win, 25-18, in the third round over Tokoroa's Kevin Robinson, the national champion of champions titleholder.
The Matamata women, the 1997 national champions, won on the countback from Mt Maunganui.

Meanwhile, Pakuranga's Michael Galloway was yesterday too strong on the draw for fellow centre representative Pat Campbell (Rawhiti) in the final of the Auckland champion of champions singles, winning 21-7.