Few surprises in women’s pairs
The failure of New Zealand representative Kirsten Edwards and her mother Leigh Griffin to qualify in the women’s pairs was the main talking point of the second day’s play in the New Zealand Bowls Championships in Taranaki yesterday.
Having already lost two matches, the duo needed to win in the sixth round to qualify, but it was not to be for last season’s runner-ups. They fell 17-13 to New Plymouth’s Yvonne Hardy and Anne Brophy to be eliminated.
As expected pre-tournament favourites, Jo Edwards and Val Smith, qualified but they had to go the full six rounds before securing the necessary fourth win. And then it was only just, 15-14 over Paritutu’s former international Cathy Andrews and Bridget Hook, who had already made it through.
Edwards and Smith had lost in round four to the Kensington side of Diane Strawbridge and Margaret Gurney, who completed a remarkable transformation by winning their last four games, after two losses, to qualify.
There will not be a fifth pairs title for Northern’s Sharon Sims, however. The new national head coach, playing with Janeen Noble, had scored three wins from the opening four rounds and needed one more from the last two rounds to qualify.
They were nosed out 19-18 by Ella Smailes (Hawera Park) in the fifth round, and then exited the competition in the last round, going down 19-9 to Angela Temple and Sandra Taylor (Pt. Chevalier). The victory enabled the Aucklanders to qualify.
Another noted casualty was the strong southern composite side of Sarah Scott and Bronwyn Stevens.
Among the impressive qualifiers were two unbeaten teams – Anne Bateman (Hikuangi) and Hayley May (Victoria), and Wellington’s Lisa White and Nicole Toomey. The women play singles today. Q A number of leading teams suffered a setback on the first day of qualifying in the men’s pairs.
Those combinations included Gary Lawson (Sumner) and Neville Rodda (Victoria), Peter Belliss (Aramoho) and Lance
Tasker (Tauranga), Auckland’s Neville Hill and Shane Mcgonagle, Takaro’s Mark Noble and Barry Wynks, and Carlton Cornwall’s Rob Ashton and Petar Sain. All finished with two wins and one loss and are still odds-on to qualify, though.
Ashton and Sain, the champions from two years ago, lost their unbeaten record in the last round, falling 18-9 to Victoria’s Lou Newman and Alf De Munnik, who also finished with two wins.
Those combinations in the men’s pairs to win three included Richard Girvan (Onehunga) and Blake Signal (Stokes Valley), Ray Park and Alan Dickson (Wanganui), Brian Baldwin and Gary Mounsey (Paritutu), and the defending champions, Ali and Neville Forsyth (Stoke). After a close shave in the morning, the Forsyths cruised home in the two afternoon games. They need only one more win today to qualify.
After two resounding wins, Girvan and Signal had to work over time to get past West End’s Dean Elgar and John Garrud 18-16 in the last game. Elgar and Garrud, one of the favoured Taranaki pairings in the event, had one win.
Park and Dickson had easily accounted for Jamie Hill (Eastbourne) and Barry O’brien (Victoria) 23-10 in the opening game, but the Wellington duo won twice in the afternoon. Baldwin and Mounsey, who are attempting to replicate their victory in the event 21 years ago, were untroubled in their three wins.
After their singles disappointments, Sheldon Bagriehowley (Gore) and Raika Gregory (Hinuera) both had three wins. Bagrie-howley is teamed with Jeremy Brosnan (Glen Eden), while Gregory skips Paul Anderson (Mt Maunganui).