Bowls: Young Aucklander leads the national triple and four

Aucklsnd 23-year-old Jamie Hill gets his first taste of major bowls championships as part of a five-man team named today to contest the Asia Pacific championships in Australia in November.

Hill made his full international debut on a tour to Scotland and England in July and will now lead the triple and four at the Tweed Heads club in Queensland.

Australian-based Russell Meyer takes on the singles role and continues his successful partnership with another expat, Paul Girdler, in the pairs.

Wanganui's Sean Johnson is recalled to the top flight after missing the tour of Britain to play at two in the triple and four.

To complete the line-up, mercurial Cantabrian Gary Lawson, who returned to international play in February after a six-year absence, skips the triple and four.

The event has players doubling up, with singles and fours over one week of the champs, and triples and pairs in the other.

With Rowan Brassey absent, Mike Kernaghan unavailable, and Peter Belliss retired from international play, New Zealand field a team all aged under 40 for the first time at a major event.

But manager and convenor of selectors Peter Shaw warned against reading too much into the non-selection of twice world champion Brassey.

"Rowan has played virtually every major international series for New Zealand since 1982, enjoying huge success along the way," Shaw said.

"The major target for us in the next 12 months is the world champs in July next year. I would be surprised and disappointed if anyone assumed their selection was automatic and I think we can safely say we know enough about Rowan's game by now. But these Asia Pacifics give us a chance to look at Jamie Hill, stepping up again into a top competitive environment, and to get Sean Johnson back into the action, too.

"We still have our targets to do well, to bring home medals, but the selections for the recent British tour, and again now, are designed to add to the picture for next year."

New Zealand's men and women together brought home a medal in all eight disciplines, including three gold, from the last Asia Pacific champs in 2001, and captured both the team trophies.

The women's team will be named later this month, following the return of an eight-strong party which leaves tomorrow for a test series in Malaysia.

New Zealand men's team to Australia:

Singles: Russell Meyer (Warilla, NSW)

Pairs: Meyer, Paul Girdler (St Johns Park, NSW)

Triples: Jamie Hill (North Harbour), Sean Johnson (Wanganui), Gary Lawson (Canterbury)

Fours: Hill, Johnson, Girdler, Lawson

Manager: Peter Shaw

Women's team to Malaysia: Marlene Castle (Auckland), Jo Edwards (Nelson), Sharon Sims (Manawatu), Wendy Jensen (Counties), Jan Khan (Canterbury), Marina Khan (Waikato), Val Smith (Nelson), Jessie Ann Law (Gisborne East Coast).

- NZPA