Update 24^th February  2015.

Good luck to the Northern Interclub Teams at Gisborne this weekend.

Comment on Bowls   by Denis Duffy.

A moment of hope and optimism about the future of our sport is welcome in these days of relentlessly declining membership. The huge response to the Centre’s promotion of an ‘Under 5 Years’ Experience/ Any Gender’ Open Singles has provided just that! Forty-eight starters will line up at the Terrace End greens next Saturday – a number that easily exceeds entries in the Open Men’s Singles held earlier in the season. Centre officials have responded well by devising a format that guarantees all entrants two solid days of competitive play. Players will be allocated on their first day performance to one of three divisions, each of which will offer cash prizes for the two best performed players, with the top section obviously attracting the best reward. However, at this early stage, finding out where you stand against your peers is usually incentive enough. It’s obvious that the problem Bowls faces in attracting new players is more than matched by the greater challenge of keeping them involved long-term. The Centre is to be congratulated for coming up with a format which maximises the chances of doing just that. Singles events with substantial entries do bring with them the  significant problem of finding enough markers. Twenty-four markers for each of two days is a very big ask, and all bowlers with time to spare next weekend are urged to make their availability known to Centre Manager Vern Sixtus.

The Manawatu performance in last weekend’s Hexagonal event was a little disappointing, especially for the Women, and especially after such a strong showing on foreign greens in the recent Quadrangular. At time of writing, Sharon Sims had not unveiled her elite seven who will contest the Inter-Centre finals in Christchurch. Women’s selector Eric Watson was happy to guarantee passage to his potent Four Skipped by Chris Quinn and including Liz Rossiter, Robyn Schishska and Janeen Noble, but was still pondering the key Singles and Pairs positions. In the Men’s competition, Wellington simply swept their opposition aside. Unbeaten  ‘B’ Singles player Laurie Guy produced the only flawless record in the tournament, thereby underlying the in-depth strength of the capital. A period of sparse success for them at the top level could be about to end. This pundit also needs to acknowledge the fine performance by Kapiti, whose chances he had not fancied at all.

Some faces not seen in the Manawatu for decades were spotted among the weekend spectators. One belonged to Andrew Seator, briefly a national representative while playing out of Palmerston North in the late 1980’s and very early ‘90’s. Phil Skoglund Snr was also delighted to catch up with Errol Barron, a team-mate when he was briefly domiciled in Wellington in the late 1960’s. Errol’s father, Jeff, went to two Empire Games in national colours, and he was present to support son Neil, the ‘B’ Singles player for Hawkes Bay. Both Andrew and Errol have spent many years now ‘across the ditch’. 

Thanks Denis.

Update 10^th February  2015.

Comment on Bowls   by Denis Duffy.

Winning all four available titles – Singles, Pairs, Triples and Fours, in the same season is a very rare feat, especially in a large and ultra-competitive club. However, a recent news clipping out of Brisbane announces that the elusive clean sweep has been achieved at the Wellington Point club by a ‘Kiwi Gun’. It turns out that the ‘gun’ is former Manawatu maestro Peter Shaw. Peter has only recently returned to the game after an extended break while he sorted out some physical issues. His latest accolade will come as no surprise in this area, where his status as one of the very best bowlers to emerge locally is well recognised. Peter made his mark locally as ‘the Fuehrer’, a Skip who demanded and usually received only the highest standards of performance from his players. He was successful in all the disciplines, and his National Gold Star was earned with five titles in a relatively short period, including both Open and Champion of Champion Singles. He never quite nailed down a regular spot in National teams, but did win a bronze medal the first time he was selected. This was in the Fours event at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games, where he played Second in a team led by local legend Phil Skoglund, and including Kevin Darling and Stewart McConnell. His undoubted mana at the top level was later recognised by appointments as a National Selector and Coach. Peter may have further years at the top level ahead of him, and his progress in the more populous and cut-throat world of Australian Bowls will be worth watching.

Peter Shaw cut his teeth on the Palmerston North greens, and the Centre’s biggest club could be witnessing the emergence of a new star at present. Mike Abraham, who began playing at Terrace End, reached the National Club Championship finals with Pat Horgan’s Four last year and has performed well in Sharon Sims’s rep. team. He has picked up a further two Club titles this season, and it’s his victory in last weekend’s Pairs final that has the critics taking serious notice. Mike has proved himself as a Lead, but this win saw him Skipping impressively with the evergreen Eric Watson at Lead. Perhaps Trevor Butcher and Paul Rowe had done the ‘hard yards’ by taking both lives from obvious favourites Horgan and Dean Gilshnan, but Abraham and Watson completed the job unbeaten, always an impressive feat. Eric’s win was one for the statisticians as well. I had to search several honours boards to discover that his last Pairs title was back in 1989 with former Test cricketer Peter Petherick. 

On the wider club front, it’s good to see the spectacular new look in evidence at Takaro, where building improvements are well advanced.  Centre President Tony Woodley also reports very favourably on a recent visit to the high veldt at Kimbolton. Our most far-flung outpost has returned to the Centre events schedule under the leadership of Dennis Shaw, and the green there is in fine condition, while the best of country hospitality is always guaranteed.

Thanks Denis.

Update 27^th January  2015.

Comment on Bowls   by Denis Duffy.

The probability of drawing two specific marbles randomly from a barrel containing forty-four is obviously very small indeed. Gamblers would not fancy the odds, and mathematicians would confirm their doubts. Yet it happened just like that when the post-section draw for the Taranaki Open Fours took place last week. The scarcely believable result was that Philip Skoglund’s team found themselves immediately drawn against their clubmates from Northern, skipped by Doug Hayward. It must have been a bitter disappointment for both teams, but especially for the Skoglund side containing three of their illustrious family, which had impressively racked up seven straight wins in their section, without playing the final game. The Hayward side had to start as underdogs, but they looked the better team throughout and won impressively. It was an unfortunate anti-climax to end a satisfying week for the Skoglunds and Craig Gush. However, huge credit must go to Doug Hayward, Derek McKee, Des Meyer and Paul Darbyshire, who then took the bit firmly between their teeth and advanced confidently to the next round. The highly dangerous Tauranga Four led by the long experience of Peter Clark blocked the path to the last 16, but this hurdle was safely overcome. Next up were two former Manawatu players, Dean Elgar Skipping and Cameron Nairne Leading, in a West End team rated as a big local chance, but they too succumbed in a tight struggle, and the Hayward side had reached the heady heights of the Quarter-Final. Lying in wait there were the uber-consistent Settle brothers of Hinuera, winners the previous year, and this time the Hayward side dipped out with all flags still nailed to the mast. It was a fine showing by a team hardly noticed by this pundit in his preview. The final outcome of this iconic tournament was a ‘feel good’ story too, with the very able Roger Hassall finally crossing the line in his fifth final, while Paritutu team-mates Sanger and Skip Goodin also had multiple runner-up trophies in their possession. Only Lead Alan Batley had won previously, and that was many years back. Statisticians would have marvelled at the Paritutu side’s Quarter-Final win by 16-15 – a total of thirty-one shots scored over twenty six ends, including an extra end. Clearly, nothing was conceded easily in that one!

In one of the most impressive Representative outings in years, the Manawatu Men’s and Women’s sides simply swept aside the opposition in comfortably winning last weekend’s Quadrangular at Naenae. This bodes well for the big stuff later on, but with one proviso. Wairarapa is palpably weak, and Kapiti mediocre at present. That leaves Wellington, where the Women are always strong but the Men are seldom taken too seriously when Inter-Centre time arrives, Our selectors are largely getting it right, but there is much tougher opposition than this to come.

Thanks Denis.

Update 14^th January  2015.

Further comment on Bowls   by Denis Duffy.

As expected, Eric Watson’s Women’s team for the Quadrangular is based around the powerful Terrace End trio who have been dominant throughout the season so far. Sheryn Blake and Georgie Kahui-Rogers combine in the Green Pair, while Mere Fryer takes on the Singles spot. The strong Northern duo of Chris Quinn and Liz Rossiter is in charge of the Green Four, with Janeen Noble at Lead and Robyn Schishka in the Second position. The White team has Robyn McGregor playing Singles, while Lynlea Rogers, Elza Lindsay and Tina Varta are new faces at this level. Joan Ware, Tania Harris and Nola Urbahn fill the remaining places.

Thirteen Manawatu teams are contesting the 110th Taranaki Open Fours next week. The presence of the Skoglund family trio of Phil Snr, Philip and Raymond, skipped by previous winner Craig Gush, will attract a lot of interest in the ‘Naki, especially with Raymond returning to serious competition after a long break. Brian Little’s Palmerston North team of the Henn brothers and Ian Monaghan will also have targets on their backs after getting close to winning the tournament several times in recent seasons. The late withdrawal of Mark Noble because of his mother’s illness has forced a re-arrangement of Barry Wynks’s strong Takaro side which includes Terry Rossiter and Terry Curtis. Lindsay Toms of Palmerston North will fill the gap vacated by Noble. Taranaki pundits who scrutinise the other ten Manawatu teams may remember that in recent times Takaro’s Jim Munn has seriously challenged legendary player and  eventual winner in that year, Gary Lawson. Jim’s side includes Brent Mason, who won the Open Pairs which is run in conjunction with the Fours in 2007 with Clark Norris.

Thanks Denis.