KEY POINTS:
The brilliance of world bowls representative Russell Meyer will be the lasting memory of a superb semifinals day at the national open championships at the Papanui Bowling Club in Christchurch yesterday.
Meyer will meet Wellington policeman Brendon Gibson of the Johnsonville club in the men's singles final in an attempt to lift his second national title. He teamed up with Northern club-mate Peter Shaw to win the men's pairs in 1998.
For sheer quality, the match of the day - and possibly of the championships to date - was the quarter-finals singles clash between world bowls teammates, Ali Forsyth and Meyer. Forsyth conceded six shots before he got on the board but from then the pair exchanged blows end by end.
Such was the quality of the bowls that, on one end, Meyer's worst bowl was less than a half a metre from the jack yet Forsyth took three shots from the cluster.
Both players were locked at 17 apiece when Meyer played a superb end, drawing two shots and then producing a toucher with his last bowl to grab three decisive shots. He produced yet another toucher with his first delivery at the next end and Forsyth was unable to dislodge it or out-draw it, giving Meyer a brilliant 21-17 win, in a game which reached an incredibly high standard.
"It was just one of those games - it was just a great game to be involved in," Meyer said. "When you play Ali, you know he's always going to attack and I just think to myself, I've got to attack to."
Forsyth said it was tremendous to see that Meyer was reaching such great form at a critical time before world bowls and that his touch will be a vital asset to assist his skip Gary Lawson in their pairs and fours quest for a gold medal.
Meyer continued his relentless form against the luckless Mike Small of Burnside to win his semifinal 21-11 with a little more ease.
The other semifinal saw Shaun Scott of North East Valley throw away a great chance to be in his second consecutive singles final, when he succumbed to Gibson in the last two ends 21-20.
If Beckenham skip Karen Ware manages to win her second women's pairs title today, it'll have been a long wait between drinks.
Ware and the late Elaine Murdoch of the Linwood club won the pairs title back in 1995, also in Christchurch, and yesterday she teamed up with her lead of the last three years, Maureen Doherty, to come from behind to snatch a place in the final against Jo Babich and Bev Crowe of Carlton-Cornwall.
Babich and Crowe had to survive a strong comeback from the determined Northern pair, Feona Sayles and Desire Lambert, before winning their way into the final 16-12.
