Bowlers shouldn’t cherry-pick rep ties

Attention is focused this week on the selection of the Manawatu men’s and women’s teams for the Tucker and Duckett Trophy matches against Taranaki and Wanganui, hosted by Wanganui on Saturday.

The format of this once highly popular fixture, formerly held in a marginally lighter atmosphere late in the season, remains under discussion.

There’s a modern tendency for top players to show scant interest in this one, but surely no-one can be allowed to cherrypick the fixtures that motivate them. Despite these issues, the selectors have come up with teams that will contend strongly.

Centre vice-president and respected player Steve Toms will attend as coach, a position the national body has been trying to establish instead of the traditional manager for some time.

There has to be a question mark over the designation of the White sides, which are supposedly development teams. It seems ludicrous to find someone of Ray Boffa’s mana and huge experience in that category.

He’s not alone, and one wonders who our opponents might field in developmental guise. The Hibiscus Cup for first and second-year players was well supported, with plenty of rising talent on show at Takaro on Sunday.

The Palmerston North pair of Lance Kennedy and Matt Pearson won the event with plenty to spare, topping off a stellar weekend for the Linton Street club who also sewed up the two top men’s interclub divisions with a round still to be played.

This new-found dominance is a huge boost for the club in question, but perhaps not the best of indicators across the centre, where an even spread of talent would be more desirable. The recently-televised Australian Premier League at Pine Rivers in Brisbane again produced exciting bowls and, for the first time, a Kiwi victory.

No doubt remains that Ali Forsyth and Jo Edwards both deserve inclusion among the very best of our players on the all-time list.

This sort of stuff might actually pique the interest of potential players, and let’s hope the finals of the New Zealand Open coming up shortly aren’t again the anti-climax they’ve been in the past after the sizzling Aussie content. Entries are fairly sparse for the forthcoming open fours pathway event and it’s disturbing to note the total absence of entries from clubs not figuring in the Manawatu interclub division 1.

Surely there isn’t a perception that any team bearing the colours of these supposed top clubs are unbeatable by the lesser lights.

I certainly hope not – no other sport provides as much opportunity to upset the favoured teams as bowls.