White storms home to win women’s singles

Hinuera’s Debbie White stormed home to snatch a sensational victory in the final of the women’s singles at the New Zealand bowls championships in Auckland yesterday.

Backed by a vocal crowd of supporters from her club and workmates from BNZ in Matamata, White came from a seemingly impossible 20-11 deficit to deny Carlton Cornwall’s Selina Goddard 21-20 in dramatic circumstances.

‘‘It’s just my time,’’ White said. ‘‘I felt sick at the end, I couldn’t watch her last bowl.’’

Goddard dominated the first two-thirds of the final, opening up an 18-9 lead. Two ends later it was 20-11.

But White pulled back a single, a four, a three, then a further single as Goddard lost her touch.

Goddard regained her composure on the final end, drawing just a few cms in front of the jack.

‘‘I knew I had to play the shot of my life’’ White said afterwards which she did play, drawing the jack away to take the initiative.

Goddard, with her final bowl, ran at the head, going between the jack and the bowl. It left the crowd roaring, and White celebrating her first title at the championships.

She has previously won 13 Waikato titles and four national club events.

She is from rich bowling history, with her mother, Jenny Simpson, a past NZ rep – ‘‘she inspired me,’’ White proudly said.

With a mixture of steady draw play and accurate upshots, Taylor Horn made it a memorable double for the Mangere club, when he took out the men’s singles final 21-15 from Hillcrest’s Tony Fabling.

Horn was never headed in the final. Fabling, though, showed the same tenacity as he had the previous day, albeit the deadly draw was less consistent.

He levelled twice, at 7-all and 10-all, but on both occasions dropped relatively soft threes.

From 14-12, Horn plucked off Fabling’s shot to score a two. A single on the next took him to 17. While Fabling replied with a two, a further two to Horn illustrated the ascendancy was with him.

Horn drew two shots close on the last end. Fabling ran without success to give Horn, 21, his biggest moment in bowls.

Horn started his bowls at Mercury Bay in Whitiangi and now resides in Te Awamutu. But he prefers the stronger competition that Auckland bowls provides.

‘‘I always knew that I was good enough to win it," Horn said.

"We were playing on a tricky rink and I just had to keep trying to put them on the jack.’’

Meanwhile Mangere’s Jordan King and Chris Lowe and Lisa Prideaux and Val Smith, of Merrylands in New South Wales, have respectively been crowned men’s and women’s pairs winners.

King and Lowe scrapped home 20-19 against Thames’ Karl Garrett and Coromandel’s Colin Gawith in a tense men’s final.

Prideaux and Smith got the nod 20-18 over Carlton Cornwall’s Linda Ralph and Aramoho’s Reen Stratford in an equally thrilling women’s finale, albeit of a lower standard, after the scores had been even playing the last end.

It was Smith’s third pairs title, and added to two fours crowns, qualified her for a national gold star.