Bowls: Tight tests see win and a loss for the Kiwi teams

LONDON - The New Zealand men beat England 2-1 in the opening bowls test of a seven-match series in York yesterday, while the women went down by the same margin

Men's manager Peter Kean predicted a "cracker" of a series as the men's singles, pairs and fours won or lost by narrow margins.

In the singles, New Zealand's Kerry Chapman beat Danny Denison 21-20, after trailing 13-18.

Chapman, who beat Ireland's world No 1 Jeremy Henry in February, reeled off seven straight points to ease to a 20-18 lead, before sealing a crucial victory.

World championship bronze medal pairs Russell Meyer and Paul Girdler also adapted quickly to the slow greens of northern England, beating Mervyn King and Ian Bond 22-17.

England's win came in the four, where they downed new combination Andrew Curtain, Phil Skoglund jun, Rowan Brassey and Peter Belliss 23-19.

Curtain and Skoglund jun were added to the four when Meyer and Girdler were selected as a pair.

Kean said: "This is going to be tough. It's going to be tooth-and-nail when you see those scores.

"I would say it's going to be a cracker of a test series."

In the women's international, former world indoor champion Marlene Castle was in dominant form.

Castle beat Ann Anderson 21-14, but England won the pairs 20-17 and the fours 23-15.

New Zealand played former singles specialist Wendy Jensen, of Pukekohe, and Nelson's Jo Edwards in the pairs.

The established combination of Jan Khan, Patsy Jorgensen, Sharon Sims and skip Anne Lomas made up the four.

Kean was pleased with how well his team had adapted to greens that were running about five seconds slower than in New Zealand.

"We've just got to expect that when we come over here.

"They did very well."

Both nations are using the series, which runs until July 26, to finalise their squads for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

- NZPA