Bowls: Manurewa wrap up men's title with round to spare

The prizes keep piling up for the Manurewa Bowling Club.

The club in the heart of Counties Manukau added another national title to its portfolio yesterday when Dwayne Cameron, Tony Andrews, Peter Lamsam, Shane Drabble, Dave Emirali, Barry Drabble and Glyn Judson won the men's national interclub finals in Palmerston North.

Andrews and Lamsam are still aglow from winning the national club championships pairs crown and Cameron and Lamsam won the Burton Cup open fours tournament on Monday.

The fifth round was not played as the club had the title sewn up by the end of the fourth round.

They won 11 matches from 12, with Cameron dropping only his first match against Stephen Ditfort of Elmwood 21-18.

Cameron, the national open fours champion, said he felt pressure when he lined up against national 25-and-under representative Shannon McIlroy of Te Karaka yesterday.

The Te Karaka seven were Manurewa's only threat coming into the final two rounds. If the Gisborne side won all their matches and Manurewa lost theirs, it would have all come down to the fifth round.

The women's competition produced popular winners when host club Palmerston North won from Sunnybrae of North Harbour.

Bev Budd, Ngaire Cowan, Rayner Stewart, Lois Astwood, Feona Sayles, Mary Anne Catley and Jewel Griggs snared the club's first Interclub title, finishing the two-day competition on 22 points.

The intercentre finals will commence today, with the first day's play comprising three rounds, before the champions are found tomorrow.

- NZPA