Taranaki fall in semifinals
A superb Saturday took the Taranaki men’s bowls team into the semifinals of the New Zealand Intercentre event in Wellington - but the title chase ended on Sunday.
Taranaki looked dead and buried after a poor day on Friday, but they won all six remaining sectional matches on Saturday, and with other results going their way, sneaked into the quarterfinals.
There they beat Southland 2-1, with the clincher coming from Darren Goodin and John Roberts, who scored three on the last end to win. The third shot was awarded only on an umpire’s measure.
The fours of John Garrud, Jordan Linn, Mark Anderson and Craig Johns were in control throughout, beating Lyall Spencer. Meanwhile, Dean Elgar went down to Craig Merrilees.
In the semifinals, Taranaki looked a good bet for the majority of its clash with North Harbour.
Elgar dominated former New Zealand rep Tony Grantham, leading 17-6. But Grantham lengthened the ends out, started to get close and Elgar’s confidence started to subside. Grantham closed to 19-14 behind and then the lead 20-19. Three down on the next end, Elgar drove the jack into the ditch for one. But Grantham dominated the last three ends to win 25-20.
Roberts and Goodin led throughout their match, beating Wayne Wrack and Bart Robertson 18-11.
That meant the result came down to the fours, which was featured by tight heads, a number of killed ends early and close scoring.
Taranaki led 6-2 and then 8-5. But the Randall Watkins-skipped Harbour side then claimed a three, three twos and two singles, to seal the deal 16-8.
Overall, Elgar won four from seven, which included an excellent 25-19 win over Matt Gallop on Saturday, the pair had five wins and the four won three.
Meanwhile, the Taranaki women’s side finished last in its section on Saturday, with five wins.
Rhonda Adams won both singles games on Saturday, finishing with a respectable threefrom-five. The pair of Chris Commane and Gloria Shaw lost all five games, while the four of Anne Duggan, Anne Brophy, Faye Gecse and Maree Gadsby lost their last three games after opening with two wins.