Bowls: Dickison suffers first game loss

CHRISTCHURCH - Some of the respected names received a shakeup on the first day of qualifying in the New Zealand bowls fours championship yesterday.

Former New Zealand representative Ian Dickison, now domiciled in Australia but playing with three old Kaikorai clubmates, lost his first game, as did John
Mears of Canterbury, whose four includes international Andrew Curtain, and under-25 representative Glenn McDonald also lost his first game.

Both recovered to win their afternoon games but need to win three of their fours games over the next two days to advance to post-section play.

Dickison struck a tough Christchurch four from the small Hornby Domain club, skipped by Robin Moffat.

There was little between the teams for the first 16 of the 21-end match, but when Moffat edged in front with four ends to play, his four clung like pit-bulls to their lead, eventually winning 20-12.

Moffat had a second comfortable win in the afternoon and Dickison had a much simpler match, winning 28-7.

Mears encountered a resourceful four from the Victoria club in Wellington in the first round. Skipped by Lou Newman, the Victoria four ground out an 18-17 win.

A Canterbury team that produced a minor upset in the first round came within a shot of a second, bigger, upset in the second round.

The team comprised two Canterbury selectors, Ron Matheson and Warwick Bain, a Canterbury coach, Roger Munroe, and Ron Matheson's son Glen.

In the morning they beat Peter Sain of Carlton, Auckland, 25-12 and in the afternoon fought end for end with Peter Shaw's Northern four which included Russell Meyer and the Skoglund brothers, Philip and Raymond. Shaw's four managed
to hold on for a 19-18 win.

Defending champion Andre Smith of Havelock started his defence with two commanding wins - 29-13 and 30-5 - at the headquarters club, Hoon Hay. On the same green, Terry Scott of North East Valley, Dunedin, also had two wins.- NZPA