Bowls: Winners have to settle nerves

The Tewantin club from Noosa, Queensland, caused an upset in the women's fours at the New Zealand championships in Christchurch yesterday.

Liza Burgess' four beat Jan Khan's Beckenham four 17-15 to reach the last eight, and immediately headed for the bar to settle their nerves and absorb the magnitude of their win.

The four had never played together before the start of the championships, and they only thought of entering after Marilyn Clayton and her daughter Kelsey Cottrell decided to come to New Zealand for a holiday.

"Then some of the other club members decided they would come, too," Clayton said.

Burgess, the skip, added: "This is big for us. We're going to have to ring home and let them know we beat one of the favourites."

Burgess has been playing for only five years, Clayton four, and Cottrell, just 15, is in her second year but is the Queensland junior state champion.

Pat Craig, the other team member, has been playing 10 years.

"I'm dying of stress," Burgess said. "I've never skipped a team before."

The Tewantin team handled the blustery north-westerly conditions better in the middle stages and with five ends left led 17-10.

On Thursday, Khan's team were down 10-15 with five ends to play and escaped with a win.

Yesterday, they won the last five ends but were unable to garner more than a single shot on each end.

Another favoured combination to exit in the round of 16 were the Marlene Castle-skipped Onehunga side. They were beaten 20-19 by Mata McEwan from St Clair on an extra end.

Sharon Sims from Northern easily advanced to the last eight, giving the convener of the national women's selection panel, Kensington's Ann Muir, a bowling lesson by winning 21-7.

In the men's championship, the main casualty yesterday was Ross Haresnape from Thames, who was a member of the winning four for the last two years. He lost in the morning to another former champion, Petar Sain from Carlton, 22-24.

In the afternoon Sain disposed of another former champion, local bowler Brian Barker, 32-21.

The winner of the pairs final last week, Mike Small, from Burnside, reached the last eight after two good wins.

- NZPA