Dramatic loss for Hikurangi in Bowls3Five
Timoti put bowl on the spot, only to see drive kill the end
The draw for the Centre Champ of Champ Fours for men and women to be played tomorrow at the Onerahi Club is listed below. In addition, the final of the Centre Mixed Pairs will be played, starting at 9am.
Fours Men: Ngunguru, Mamaranui, Kensington, Mangawhai, Whanga¯rei, Maungatapere, Onerahi, Maungaturoto, Hikurangi, Leigh, Waipu¯, One Tree Point, Arapohue, Kamo — report by 8.30am.
Dargaville have the first round bye — report by 10.15am.
Women: Kamo, Onerahi, Kensington, One Tree Point, report by 10.15am for a 11am start.
Mangawhai and Waipu¯ have byes, report noon.
Mixed Pairs Final: To be played between Dennis Brewster and Diane Strawbridge and Manu Timoti and Steve Mitchell. Report by 8.30am for a 9am start.
Bowls3Five regional finals
These finals could not have had any more drama than that played out on the Orewa indoor green last Sunday. In the open division, with literally the last bowl of the contest, Takapuna’s Graham Skellern sealed the result in favour of his team and foiled a highly competitive Hikurangi combination representing Northland.
With her last bowl, Hikurangi’s Manu Timoti appeared to have given her team an almost miraculous win by drawing the shot dead when her side was five down on the tie-breaker end.
This shot would give the Hikurangi team the match and an overall win. Skellern had no option but to drive with his last bowl in an all or nothing attempt to win the match. He used his vast experience to unleash a drive which cannoned into the head and killed the end. Under the playing conditions the jack was returned to the green and placed on the 2m mark and the win went to the Takapuna team.
There was a high tension and measure of skill in all three matches where every game went to the tiebreaker to decide the winner when each team won a set apiece.
In the crucial match between teams skipped by Stewart (Hikurangi) and Forward (Takapuna), Hikurangi may have made a crucial tactical error when they won the toss but gave the mat away in the tie-breaker and Takapuna switched to short ends, thus breaking the rhythm Hikurangi had enjoyed with longer ends.
In the 1-5 year division North Harbour won the first set and Mangawhai, representing Northland were well up by 6-1 to make a possible tiebreaker end in the second set, when they dropped a six and ended up drawing the second set with Helensville. This result gave the win to Helensville by 11⁄2-1⁄2.
The Takapuna and Helensville clubs will therefore meet the Counties representatives for a place in the last eight in the New Zealand finals to be played August 1 and 2 in Wellington. Photos from this event are on the Centre website.
Champ of Champ Triples
The Centre Champion of Champion Triples for men and women were played last weekend.
With the bad weather up to Friday night the greens at Hikurangi went under water and the women’s section was transferred to Onerahi.
Results from the men’s section were:
Round 1: Maungaturoto bye; Waipu¯ bt Maungatapere 20-13; Hikurangi bt Leigh 19-12; Kensington bt Whanga¯rei 15-11; Ngunguru bt Onerahi 14-9; Mangawhai bt Arapohue 19-7; Mamaranui bt One Tree Pt 16-11; Dargaville bt Kamo 13-11.
Round 2: Waipu¯ bt Maungaturoto 17-12; Kensington bt Hikurangi 10-8; Mangawhai bt Ngunguru 18-9; Mamaranui bt Dargaville 15-10.
Round 3: Kensington bt Waipu¯ 14-9; Mangawhai bt Mamaranui 19-10.
Final: Mangawhai bt Kensington 15-8.
Congratulations to Neville Franks, Paul Freeman and Tom Gowie of Mangawhai. Kensington were represented by Gordon Bond, Joe Thorburn, Graham Gallant.
Mangawhai got out to a good start winning the first six ends before Kensington got on the board. Mangawhai scored on six of the following eight ends and were comfortably ahead on the scoreboard.
They dropped only two shots on the last three ends and comfortably won the match.
This was a first title for Gowie, second for Franks and third for Freeman.
In the women’s section there were no byes and the results were:
Round 1: Ngunguru bt Onerahi 16-9; Kensington bt Mangawhai 22-7; One Tree Pt bt Kamo 12-10; Waipu¯ bt Hikurangi 15-14.
Round 2: Kensington bt Ngunguru 16-8; One Tree Pt bt Waipu¯ 20-5.
Final: Kensington bt One Tree Pt 15-10.
This match saw the score at 3-all after five ends and 8-all after 11 ends.
Kensington then scored four, two and one on the next three ends to take the lead and went into the last end with a handy advantage.
One Tree Pt scored a two on the last and Kensington had the game won.
There were some great draw shots played particularly by the One Tree Point team who included two fiveyear bowlers.
They were up against the well experienced trio from Kensington and gave them an exciting and hardfought final.
The winning team was Ann Muir, Jude Ganley and Pam Brewster and the One Tree Point combination was Elma Gatchell, Lyn Springett and Sue Dean. This was a sixth title each for Ganley and Brewster and a 32nd title for Muir.