Two relatively unknown bowlers from North Harbour's Sunnybrae club with an aggregate age of 144, Barbara Butler and Diana Millbank, caused the major upset when the national women's pairs championships at Browns Bay yesterday reached the final eight.
The two 72-year-olds ousted the 2013 champions and former national representatives Canterbury's Serena Matthews and Sandra Keith 16-14.
Butler has been a useful bowler for almost 20 years and some seasons ago made the last 16 of the singles, but Millbank, who led superbly, has been playing just four years.
Her previous sport had been golf, at which the 12 handicapper had the distinction of four holes in one. So limited was her bowls knowledge she was stunned to be told afterwards that she had beaten two of New Zealand's best women's players.
"I didn't know who they were," she said. "Perhaps if I had I might have been overawed."
