Triple heat on scorching greens
I don't think I have played in Manawatu¯ in more extreme heat.
Johnston Park seized home advantage to take out the Manawatu¯ women’s open triples on Sunday in an excellent final against Audrey Stevenson, of Paraparaumu Beach.
Lyn Jensen skipped Tania Harris (lead) and Gillian Friis to a 14-12 win in an absorbing final.
Both teams had qualified comfortably on the Saturday and Jensen’s team looked a little out of sorts against clubmates Frances Ardern, Anne Corlett and Robyn Schischka in the quarter final, and struggled to a 17-13 win.
It was a different story in the semifinal, however, as they demolished Bev Budd’s Terrace End team 27-13 in only 15 of the 18-end game.
Meanwhile, Stevenson, with daughter Rochelle at two and Pat Vincent leading, had dealt to Naenae visitor Karen Hilliard 21-12 in the quarterfinal and in the next round it was Palmerston North’s Beryl England on the wrong end of a 29-7 scoreline.
And so to the final, and it was all Stevenson in the early stages of the match, and they led 9-2 after eight ends in rampant style.
But Jensen’s team knuckled down to the task and scored one, three, two, one, two, one, two in consecutive ends to lead 14-9 with three ends to play. The 15th end was critical – Stevenson grabbed the jack to lie two shots, with the jack in the centre of them.
Jensen was up to the task, however, and played a screamer to trail the jack to Harris’ bowl for a two. Despite conceding three singles on the last three ends, the title was Johnston Park’s.
It was title four for Jensen, three for Friis and Harris’ second. Friis was confirmed for the tournament at 10.00pm on Friday, when a debilitated Colleen Marsden was forced to pull the pin.
The men’s event is down to a final between Graeme Cooley, Dean Gilshnan and Ray Boffa (Palmerston North) against an unlikely lineup from Northern skipped by Tom Palmer, with Derek Mckee and Des Meyer the front end.
Pundits predicted the quarterfinal between Cooley and local Stephen Love to be the game of the day and so it proved, with Cooley prevailing 13-12 in a match where the scores were tied five times.
Cooley then easily accounted for Barry Wynks 18-6, but there was real drama in Palmer’s semifinal against another home team skipped by Simon Westby, with Garry Riley and Colin Commerford in front of him.
Westby led 18-8, with only five ends to play and looked unassailable. Whether minds had turned to the bar after the extreme heat or not is speculation, but Palmer stole the next four ends with a three, four and two singles, so the Westby lead was cut to one playing the last end.
Northern held one and Westby turned a Meyer bowl in for another shot and the final spot was Northern’s.
There is no game like two-bowl triples for testing the discipline of a team and any lapse can be punished in a hurry. The Stevenson and Westby teams were not the only ones to suffer large turnarounds on the day.
Twice Westby had sealed other teams’ fates in similar fashion. Graeme Gosnell (Terrace End) surrendered a lead of six against them, with two ends to play, and similarly Craig Gush (Northern) conceded 10 shots in the last five ends to exit the tournament.
Earlier, Terry Curtis (Takaro) led John Tiddy (Woodville) 11-6 only to concede 11 shots in the last five ends.
I don’t think I have played in Manawatu¯ in more extreme heat and it was a test of stamina as well as bowls ability. There’s not much action in Manawatu¯ over the next fortnight, with the representative matches in the Ka¯ piti centre on January 28 the next significant events.
Good bowling.