Bowls: Dickison closer to full set of titles

Former international Ian Dickison, who now lives on the Gold Coast, had a morale-boosting win over his old Dunedin representative team-mate Ken Walker as he continued his chase for the national fours bowls championship in Christchurch.

Dickison, seeking a set of national titles by adding the fours to the pairs and singles he has already won, had an easy 25-10 win over Christchurch Richmond's Paul Newman yesterday morning in the first round of post-section play.

Dickison's Dunedin team of Stewart McConnell, Geoff Wilson and Trevor Hall then came across long-time rivals Ken Walker, Paul Girdler, Steve Beel and Mark Cowan in the second round and beat them 22-18 to reach the last 32.

Aucklanders Petar Sain, playing with Carlton clubmates Nick Krajancic, Alf Dickens and Ivan Zonich, finished off a hard day's work with victories over Fendalton's Murray Hill 20-13 and Woolston Park's Paul Nicholls 17-16.

Sain, who now plays new national selector Bruce Malcolm, was joined in the last 32 by another Auckland combination of Mike Kernaghan, Ivan Marsic, Peter Kean and Justin Goodwin.

They too scraped through with a 25-23 win in the second round over Redcliffs' Gordon Smith.