Bowls: Winds blow match Newman's way

By BOB PEARCE

At 1-11 down to Andrew Curtain, Wellington bowler Adam Newman was hoping to get into double figures to make a dignified exit from the national singles championship at Onehunga yesterday.

But suddenly he found the secret of taming the fast greens in a gusty wind and gradually wore the Elmwood bowler down to win 21-14 with a superb display of draw bowls to reach the last 16.

The 27-year-old Newman, from the Victoria club, was runner-up in this event in 1997 and also in the pairs in 1998.

"It was scary out there," he said. "It helped having played a lot in the wind. I tried some short ends and that seemed to work for me."

On the same green Peter Belliss, three-times champion, showed why he is favoured by many to win the title again.

He had a titanic struggle over 28 ends with Russell Meyer who, like Belliss, plays his bowls in Australia.

Belliss seemed doomed when he was 15-17 down and Meyer had three counting bowls. But he took the shot with a toucher with his last bowl for 16-17 and Meyer's best chance was gone.

To reach the last 16, Belliss had to reproduce his best again to beat the unheralded Birkenhead player Randell Watkins 21-16 after they had been level-pegging until the last couple of ends.

Leo Leonard (Kia Toa), whose bowls were challenged by Wally Marsic (Carlton) after the fours qualifying, opted to continue in the tournament with a different set of bowls so that the others could be tested in Australia.

The change seemed to suit him. He was beaten in the first round of the pairs, but yesterday reached the last 16 of the singles with a 21-15 victory over Ivan Zonich (Carlton).

The bowls have been airfreighted to Australia, where they will be tested by the manufacturers. But the test will not be completed before the fours continue today and Leonard will be playing while Marsic has been eliminated.

The organisers are following World Bowls Board laws. Leonard could have chosen to use the bowls to the end of the tournament, but relinquished them to help to clear up the matter quickly.

Defending champion Petar Sain (Carlton) outlasted national selector Peter Shaw, from the Northern Club in Palmerston North, 21-19. But two other Palmerston bowlers, brothers Philip and Raymond Skoglund, are still in line to emulate their father with a singles title.

Dunedin bowlers Mike Kernaghan, Paul Girdler and Terry Scott, from North East Valley, who are playing in a four, have all qualified for the last 16 of the singles.

Among the early casualties were Gary Lawson (Hornby Domain), beaten by Paul Huxtable (Kerikeri), and Brian Baldwin (Musgrove Hill), downed by Pere Paul (Ngongotaha).