Update 4th February 2014

Comment on Bowls   by Denis Duffy.

Four Manawatu bowlers are set to strike out into missionary territory when they take up an invitation to visit Hong Kong next month before penetrating the Chinese mainland to further test their skills. The unique opportunity came about through past contacts made by Centre President Phil Skoglund. Vern Sixtus, Willie Young, Paul Joe and Stu McGrail will discover that Bowls is strong and well established somewhere among the concrete canyons of Hong Kong, and might also find the ‘skins’ format which they are asked to play quite a challenge. Nobody that I asked had more than a vague idea of what it entails! The Chinese leg of the trip is even more mysterious, as Bowls is hardly a significant sport in those regions. I seem to recall local Singles exponent John Davies once being selected to compete in Korea, where he found the greens a bit different to say the least, but China seems to be virgin territory.

The first Champion of Champions winners were found at the weekend with Bev Budd winning the Women’s Singles for Terrace End, and Darryl Johnson snaring the title that Himatangi Beach have been threatening to win by taking out the Men’s event. Bev is of course a local legend,  and was close to the elusive Singles double, having been narrowly beaten by Noeleen Elston in the earlier Open event. Darryl has a strong background in the uber-competitive Auckland Centre, and was unlucky to run second to Ray Lovie a year or two ago in a Singles final played in winds varying from gale to hurricane force at Northern. The Triples finals will be played next weekend and could well prove to be a bonanza for the smaller clubs with Dannevirke and Hokowhitu both featuring. As well, all eyes will be on Scotty McGavin, who gets a big chance to finally shed the bridesmaid tag and win a title for Bulls if he can subdue a steady Hokowhitu side in the Men’s final. The same Palmerston North Men’s Triple that made the national play-offs in Invercargill last year fell to Takaro in the first round, with a huge final bowl by Takaro Skip ‘Trunky’ Johnson later just failing to deny Bulls their place in the final. As the Champion of Champions events play out, it’s relevant to bear in mind that this is the second year since these events have been used to decide who gets to progress regionally and nationally under the ‘pathways’ concept. Many, if not most other Centres use Open events to find these winners, and it’s likely there will be further debate on the issue when the Bowls Manawatu AGM rolls around.

It’s not often that a twelve year old wins a Senior club title, but that’s what happened when Murray Wilson recently found himself in the winner’s circle at Takaro as part of the Barry Wynks Four. This will be an interesting team to watch when they compete at centre level shortly.  

Denis Duffy

Thanks Denis.