Edwards, McIlroy win titles
Current world champion Shannon McIlroy and reigning Commonwealth Games champion Jo Edwards illustrated why they hold such titles when they respectively won the singles titles at the New Zealand bowls championships in Dunedin yesterday.
McIlroy, from Nelson’s Stoke club, beat Andrew Kelly (St Albans, Christchurch) 21-15 in the men’s decider, while Edwards, formerly of Nelson and now from Pine Rivers in Brisbane, beat Katelyn Inch (Broadbeach, Queensland) 21-16 in the women’s finale.
But both McIlroy and Edwards, who are almost certain to be New Zealand’s singles representatives at April’s Commonwealth Games, had to display plenty to skill and character, to secure their wins.
Edwards, who gained her gold star for claiming five national titles with the win, broke free from
6-5 in the final by playing two superb push shots, one on the backhand and one on the forehand. Both produced three shots apiece and gave Edwards a 12-6 lead. Three ends later that became
16-7.
But Inch, who originally hails from Oxford in north Canterbury, clawed back into the match. Aided on a couple of occasions by Edwards giving her the shot and also using the same side of the rink in both directions, Inch won six of the next seven ends to reduce the score to 17-14.
Suddenly, the match was wide open. Inch, having converted the previous two ends late in the piece, was gaining the momentum.
But Edwards is not New Zealand’s best women’s bowler of this generation for no reason. She remained composed and assured, a two-shot haul on the next head arresting the decline.
Even though Inch deftly pulled back a two herself on the following end, Edwards drew a further two on the return to seal the result.
McIlroy found himself in deep water when he trailed Kelly 10-1 in the men’s final. Kelly was drawing better and McIlroy had reverted to a number of weighted shots, without success.
But McIlroy changed his tactic, got back to drawing, and lengthened the heads a little.
Three threes in close succession had McIlroy back on even pegging at 12-all and he continued to draw with persistence.
He edged in front 16-14, and the luck also favoured him. On the next end, when three down, Kelly ran successfully at the head but the jack followed a McIlroy bowl to the side of the rink to make it 17-14.
Kelly responded with a single, but the last three ends belonged to McIlroy as he claimed his second national singles title in three years. He previously had won the fours in 2006.
Earlier yesterday, Sherrie Cottle and Bev Morel (Elmwood Park) and Gary Lawson (Eastbourne) leading for Ali Forsyth (Clayton) were crowned pairs champions in contrasting finals.
Cottle and Morel powered away from an out-of-sorts Ashleigh Jeffcoat (Frankton Junction) and Dale Rayner (Johnsonville) 19-6 to claim the women’s title, while Lawson and Forsyth came from behind to beat Lance Tasker (Tauranga) and Peter Belliss (Aramoho) 21-14 in the men’s decider.
The title was Cottle’s first at the championships, Morel’s third, after two previous fours wins, while Lawson has now collected 12 and Forsyth eight.
’’We weren’t playing brilliantly,’’ Forsyth said afterwards of their struggles. ‘‘But we were able to hang tough. Gary played really well in that last third.’’
In the women’s final, a six on the 10th end set Cottle and Morel up for their victory.
Early exchanges were relatively even, although the veteran Morel, aged 76, began to convert heads, turning over negative counts to positive ones on the third, fifth and sixth ends.
The national championships wrap up with the fours finals this morning.