Bowls: Just pride remaining for women

LONDON - The New Zealand women's bowls team will play for pride today after their English opponents clinched the test series 4-1 yesterday.

Down 1-3 with three tests to play, only the Kiwi four managed a win at the Rugby Bowling Club. Even the almost-invincible Marlene Castle lost 14-21.

Manager Ann Muir made no excuses for the team's failure.

"It has been difficult not having an extra player, but we've been well beaten ... There'll be a lot of thinking being done."

Today, Sharon Sims will play the singles, with Castle and Jo Edwards in the pairs and Patsy Jorgensen, Jan Khan, Anne Lomas and Wendy Jensen making up the four.

Yesterday, the four of Lomas, Khan, Jensen and Sims won 23-14 and the pair of Jorgensen and Edwards lost 16-23.

Meanwhile, the men's series is still alive, with the Kiwis sneaking ahead 3-2 with two tests remaining.

The move to play Sean Johnson in the singles paid off, with the Wanganui bowler claiming a 21-14 victory over John Ottaway.

The world championship bronze medal pair of Russell Meyer and Paul Girdler picked up their third win of the series with a 17-14 win after an extra end.

But the bad luck for the four continued with a 15-17 loss to Rowan Brassey, Peter Belliss, Phil Skoglund jun and Andrew Curtain.

- NZPA