Bowls: Relaxed pair knock out favoured team

By Graham Skellern

The greatest fear of qualifying in a major bowls tournament is to strike players (or teams) who have no chance but in their relaxed state play a blinder.

It happened to the current national champion of champions singles titleholder, Kevin Robinson (Tokoroa), and lead Kevin Boothby (Hillcrest), in their crucial fourth qualifying game of the New Zealand pairs in Christchurch yesterday.

The Waikato pair lost their first game 9-16 to John Hills/Michael Howard (Phoenix, Oamaru) and won the next two 20-10 and 20-6. But their run ended when skip Jack Tiddy (Woodville), playing with Michael Blyth (Meadowbank, Oamaru), ruled the rink after having three losses. Tiddy won 20-7, producing one of the real upsets of the pairs qualifying day.

Post-section singles play is today and pairs on Friday.

Also out are New Zealand representative Ken Walker and his young talented lead Mark Cowan, both from Fairfield in Dunedin, who appeared to be cruising after winning their first two games 32-3 and 33-9. They lost 13-14 to Ron McQuillan (Belfast) and 10-20 to Lynton Withell of Waihora, a club of 14 members on the way to Akaroa.

Other casualties were the Hillsboro combinations of Richard Corry/Glyn Judson and Brett Hassall/Don Hooper.

But the club still had a fair representation with father and son Nick and Neven Grgicevich, John Harding/Clive Major, and Justin Goodwin, playing with the Carlton campaigner Ivan Marsic.

The winning Carlton fours split into combinations of Petar Sain/Ivan Zonich and Nick Krajancic/Alf Dickens and they qualified.