Taieri team Top 24 for Tall Blacks squad announced, final picks to come secures triples crown

Tall Blacks Squad

SECURING six shots on the four of the final five ends secured the Andy McLeanskipped Taieri triple team a 1611 victory over Forbury Park in the final of the Bowls Dunedin open men’s triples on Tuesday evening.

Heading into the 14th end, nothing could separate the two combination in a titfor tat, shotfor shot encounter at the Wakari Bowling Club.

With the scores locked up at 1010, McLean turned the game on its head with what was to prove some matchdefining draw play.

With strong draw play up front from Finnerty and Archer, McLean played a major role in his team securing one shot on the 14th end, followed by two shots each on the 15th and 16th backed up by another one shot on the penultimate 17th end for a 1610 lead heading into the final end.

The telling point came in the 16th end when Forbury Park skip Andy Callender played into the head with the jack, then rebounded off a back bowl returning it back up the rink to settle just 20.1m away from the delivery mat, the 10cm still keeping it alive and forcing a really short end. Had the jack settled less that 20m away from the delivery mat the end would have had to be replayed.

With both skips forced then to draws to an extremely short end, it was McLean who mastered the feat drawing close to lock away two shots for a 1510 lead with two ends to play.

But rather than concede at 1016 down heading into the 18th and final end, Forbury Park stayed in the game, hopeful of bagging maximum points on the final end to draw the match and force a deciding extra end.

Unfortunately for Forbury Park, its slim glimmer of hope was extinguished as Taieri expertly closed down its scoring opportunities and limited it to just the single shot, to close the games down at 1611.

The Taieri trio proved the equal to every bowl the favoured Forbury Park team delivered. Both teams played with intensity throughout and it was to Taieri’s credit it stood up the pressure put on it in the final stages to come away with the silverware.

For Finnerty it was his first centre title while for Archer it was his eighth and McLean his seventh.

Sarah Scott (North East Valley) won the recently completed Bowls Dunedin open women’s singles held at the Balmacewen Bowling Club, defeating Beth Brown (Taieri) 2115 in the final.

The Ballard Brooch was completed yesterday with the Green Island team of Faye Cosgrove, Lyn Rance, Shirley Mercer and Lynn Baird defeating tournament favourite and defending champion Taieri (Barbara Archer, Jean Young, Helen Carman and Jenny Dyhberg) 1611 at the Green Island Bowling Club.

TALL Blacks head coach Pero Cameron has announced an initial squad of 24 players in contention to play Saudi Arabia and Lebanon in New Zealand later this month.

The list is headlined by eight veterans with at least 50 Tall Black caps to their name, including Isaac Fotu, Shea Ili, Rob Loe, Jordan Ngatai, Tohi SmithMilner, Reuben Te Rangi, Corey Webster and Tai Webster. From this list both Corey Webster (93 caps) and Rob Loe (90 caps) have a chance to crack the Tall Blacks Centurion club this year, should they make New Zealand’s FIBA World Cup squad for August.

A pair of siblings feature on this list, with Isaac and Dan Fotu last playing together on the Tall Blacks squad in February 2018 for Dan’s national team debut. Tai and Corey Webster — current teammates on the Perth Wildcats — are also in line to play alongside one another in the black singlet for the first time since the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

In all 23 of the 24 players suited up for the Tall Blacks last year, either as part of the World Cup Qualifiers campaign or the FIBA Asia Cup, with 23yearold Sam Waardenburg the sole exception.

The forward is a possibility to make his Tall Blacks debut following a productive first year with the Cairns Taipans.

With 17 of the listed athletes playing in the Australian NBL across eight of the 10 teams — including seven on the NZ Breakers roster alone — Cameron said his final squad of 12 would be defined in part by how deep these players progressed in the NBL finals race this month.

‘‘We’ll work over the next few weeks to determine which Aussie NBLbased Kiwis are available for these two games, depending on fitness and how they fare in the finals. We want to roll out a strong squad for both games in front of our home fans, so there’ll be strong competition . . . which is great for the team.’’

The Tall Blacks play two games in New Zealand later this month, facing Saudi Arabia at Christchurch Arena on February 24, followed by a clash with rivals Lebanon at Wellington’s TSB Arena on February 27.

Following this, the Tall Blacks will head to Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines in August, as one of 32 teams locked into the FIBA World Cup — basketball’s pinnacle sporting event.

Taylor Britt, Isaac Davidson, Shea Ili, Izayah Le’Afa, Alex McNaught, Nikau McCullough, Richie Rodger, Corey Webster, Tai Webster, Walter Brown, Dan Fotu, Isaac Fotu, Hyrum Harris, Jordan Ngatai, Ethan Rusbatch, Reuben Te Rangi, Tom Vodanovich, Sam Waardenburg, Tyrell Harrison, Jordan Hunt, Rob Loe, Anzac Rissetto, Tohi SmithMilner, Sam Timmins.