Garner, Cadogan key as Otago retains Jolly Shield

TWO veterans from the glory days were unbeaten and played a key role when Otago retained the Jolly Shield in Dunedin at the weekend.

Ross Garner and Barry Cadogan were two of the five Dunedinbased bowlers unbeaten in their six games when Otago won the annual Jolly Quadrangular event.

Otago won the fourcentre regional event with 85 points and was followed by South Otago 59, North Otago 40 and Central Otago 32.

Otago led South Otago by 15 points after the first round of three games and increased the margin to 26 points by the end of the second round.

Garner and Cadogan were members of the elite Otago team that won the Welch Trophy, the top national team event, in 1999, 2001 and 2003.

Garner joined other members of his family at the Mornington club 44 years ago and was runnerup in the national singles to defending champion Bruce Meyer (Manawatu) in 2003 and in the fours four years ago. He has won 16 Otago titles.

Cadogan (69) has been playing indoor bowls for 32 years and has won 19 Otago titles.

The other Otago bowlers to win their six games were John Williams, Marilyn Holmes and Mike Harte.

Garner, the skip of one of Otago’s triples and fours teams, had his toughest assignment in his first game of triples with Kevin Proudfoot and Stephne Joyce when they beat Reay Allen, Rick Yorston and Tony Kane (Central Otago) 86.

Cadogan also skipped the fours and triples and had a close firstup game in the fours with Marilyn Holmes, Mike Harte and Shirley Ruthven when they beat a South Otago four skipped by former New Zealand representative Elaine Grant 87.

He played with Holmes in the pairs and they were tested by South Otago’s Graeme Hill and Craig Botting before winning 86.

The best South Otago players were Biddy Craig and Colleen Fenton, who were unbeaten in the pairs and finished with five wins from their six games.

Craig has been playing indoor bowls for 33 years and Fenton was runnerup in the New Zealand pairs in 1994.

Their most significant win at the weekend was to beat Otago’s David Webb and Nick Sinclair 75.

The other South Otago bowler to win five games was Ross Agnew who was unbeaten in the fours but lost his final triples game to Wally Strachan, Bevan Strachan and Noeline Elliott (North Otago) 113.

The best performed North Otago players were Stefan Robb, Diane McGregor and Gordon Robb with three wins and a draw.

Matthew Begg won four of his six games and was the best Central Otago bowler.