Bowls: Castle's return completes powerful bowls line-up

Marlene Castle returns to complete a powerful-looking New Zealand women's bowls team to contest the world championships at Leamington Spa, England, from September 3-17.

The side is otherwise unchanged from that which had a series win over Australia in Rotorua.

Castle had to withdraw from that series and comes back for her replacement, Jan Khan.

New Zealand's most experienced current international, Castle will play singles and skip the triple.

Commonwealth Games gold medallists Sharon Sims from Palmerston North and Jo Edwards of Nelson will resume their successful pairs combination, and also play at three and skip in the four respectively.

Counties' Wendy Jensen and Nelson's Val Smith complete the side and will play off the front of both the triple and four.

Jensen is a fours bronze medallist from Manchester 2002 and Smith recently won her first national open title.

Both impressed on international duty in Malaysia last September, and were together at lead and two in the fours gold medal team at the Asia Pacific championships in November.

Canterbury's Khan is the unlucky bowler. She was a member of the New Zealand team who won fours gold at the last world championships in 2000.

She was selected for Asia Pacific duty last November but withdrew on the eve of competition when her mother Millie died suddenly.

Convenor of selectors and women's manager former international Ann Muir was excited at the prospects for her charges.

"We have proved over the past four years that our current crop of top players is capable of taking on the world," she said.

"Since 1999 we have won medals consistently at international level, in three Asia Pacific champs, at the worlds in 2000, and again at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester 2002 with two bronze and a gold from the three events played.

"We will be putting in some time on the slow-green facility Bowls NZ built in Auckland to replicate the conditions we will face."

New Zealand head to the world event as reigning champion in triples as well as fours.

But only Sharon Sims survives from those two gold-medal performances four years ago.

The separate men's world championships also play this year, at Ayr in Scotland from July 23-August 8.

- NZPA