Bowls: Games chance to find form

MELBOURNE - The New Zealand men's performance at the Transtasman Trophy series against Australia was disappointing, but there is plenty of time for correction before next year's Commonwealth Games, says manager Peter Shaw.

The team lost each of their three tests at the Kingsbury club in north Melbourne by four matches to two.

Their best performer was singles player Russell Meyer, who had three wins against world singles champion Steve Glasson and was only pipped at the post by the Australian in their two encounters on Thursday, with each match being decided on the final bowl.

But the pair of Rowan Brassey and Gary Lawson struggled in the far from ideal conditions and lost five times to Kelvin Kerkow and Brett Duprez before striking back with a win in their final match on Thursday afternoon.

"You are only as good as your last match," joked Lawson after the win, but he paid credit to the superb bowls played by opposition skip Kelvin Kerkow during the tournament.

The men's triple of Steve Posa, Philip Skoglund and skip Glenn McDonald also found it difficult to find consistency on the slow greens, winning two of their six matches.

Shaw, who is convener of selectors for the men, said the team for the Commonwealth Games would not be finalised until December. New Zealand has a tri-series against Scotland and Australia at Warilla, New South Wales, in June and the Asia-Pacific championships back in Melbourne later in the year where more experimentation could be on the cards.

He said that although conditions were far from ideal at Kingsbury the exposure to the new sudden death format of two nine-end matches was invaluable for the team. The format will be used at the Commonwealth Games.

He was pleased with Meyer's form and also that of the under-25 triple which went through the tournament undefeated.

Shaw said that skip Doug Wilson and teenagers Shannon McIlroy and Jason Lindsay did themselves proud with their performances.

If the men's series was disappointing for the New Zealanders, the women's matches were the opposite.

In an exciting final match, Marina and Jan Khan and skip Val Smith clinched a series victory for the women by beating Australia in straight sets. Smith welcomed the chance to show her wares as skip and was cool under pressure against her highly rated Australian counterpart, Karen Murphy.

There was a good finish too for singles player Jo Edwards, who won her only game of the tournament against Maria Rigby after five losses.

"That was a relief," said Edwards, who said she would learn from the experience of playing the new format.

Women's selection convener Ann Muir wouldn't be drawn on whether Edwards would be retained as singles player.

Australia won the series by 86 points to 58, with two points awarded for each win.

They easily won the women's development section, and scraped home on points differential in the men's under-25 series.

- NZPA