Top bowlers on a mission
Manawatu’s men’s and women’s rep bowls teams are both nearly at full strength for this weekend’s national intercentre championships in Wellington.
The Manawatu men will be confident after winning the hexagonal tournament in Palmerston North last month and men’s selector Tony Jensen has gone with form when it came to picking his final seven players.
‘‘I’m happy with the way the team went in the hexagonal,’’ he said.
‘‘Naturally it’s a different story stepping up; in qualifying we’ve got Auckland and Wellington. The level will be the best of the best right throughout.’’
Ross Ellery keeps his place in the singles, with in-form Stephen Love and Dean Gilshnan in the pair.
The four stays the same from the hexagonal, except Bruce Harris comes from the B pair to replace Palmerston North’s Pat Horgan, who had to withdraw because of an ongoing hip problem. Craig Gush, Tim Hook and Brian Little make up the rest of the four.
‘‘A lot of them are in form from one event or another,’’ Jensen said. ‘‘Ross Ellery was in the winning club pair at Palmerston North last week and Brian Little was on the other side so they’ve got good form.’’
The other B pairs player, Scotty Mcgavin from Bulls, and B singles player Darryll Johnson (Himatangi Beach) miss the cut.
Manawatu play at Johnsonville tomorrow and Silverstream on Saturday, with post-section, if they qualify, on Sunday. They have Auckland, Wellington, North Harbour, Southland and South Otago in their section.
Women’s selector Lyn Jensen has kept faith with all her top charges who finished fifth at the hexagonal.
Chris Quinn was unavailable to play in the fours, so Lyn Jensen, who has been the B singles player and was a non-travelling reserve for nationals, replaces her. The rest of the four is unchanged with
Wendy Herman, Ailsa Linsday and Robyn Mcgregor.
Mere Fryer will play the singles and is the form Manawatu bowler this summer, having won three major centre titles and the national club pairs title with Lynlea Rogers at Dunedin two weeks ago.
Northern club-mates Carol Davidson and Julianne Mills keep their place as the top pairs team.
B pairs players Robin Schischka and Shirley Bartlett miss out.
The Manawatu women play at Naenae on the first day, then Island Bay on the second.
Manawatu have Bay of Plenty, North Harbour, Wellington, Southland and a bye in their section.