Bowls: Mariners, Tridents triumph

The Tridents and Mariners' pairs combinations came up with crucial wins to ensure their teams of victory in the Super 8 regional bowls event in Hamilton yesterday.

The Tridents men, drawn from Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Thames Valley bowling associations, beat Auckland 3-1. Pairs skip Sid Giddy (Bay of Plenty) drew the last shot in the final end to win 17-14.

The victory came after Tridents' singles player Clive Phillips beat Petar Sain 21-14. With Tridents' Waikato triples combination of Kevin Robinson, Nev Risbridge and Steve Posa well ahead next door, Giddy's superb toucher ensured the Tridents of the title.

Auckland picked up the fours match 25-11.

In the women's final, Mainland Mariners, from Canterbury, and Mana-Bay Coast drew 2-2, but the South Island team's superior points for-and-against differential, helped by a thumping 24-11 win in the pairs by Jo Edwards and Val Smith, gave them the title.

Mana-Bay Coast won the battle between the two New Zealand representatives in the singles after Sharon Sims edged out Marie Watson 21-20. Judy Heeman, Jenny Fleming and Jan Khan came from 13-15 down in the final end to pick up four shots to give the South Islanders a 2-1 advantage.

Mana-Bay had to get all eight shots in the final end of the fours to force a playoff, but picked up only one to win 17-10.

- NZPA