It's a social game for thousands nationwide but for two Tauranga bowlers, Kiwi pride will be on the line next week as they try to roll the Aussies and reclaim transtasman honours.
Gearing up for the biennial test, Mike Phipps and Fiona Wilson are part of a new-look national team out
to recapture the Henselite Trophy, which New Zealand has had a firm hold on historically with 14 wins to four. That ascendancy took a hit at the last encounter, though, when the Kiwis were cleaned out 37-29 at Broken Hill, Queensland, in 2009.
Set to earn their first caps, Phipps and Wilson fly south on Sunday for a final training stint with the 14-strong national side before the three-day test begins in Balclutha next Thursday. Both are long-established players - Wilson was a reserve for the '09 test team - and the pair expect an intensely competitive atmosphere worthy of a Bledisloe Cup clash.
"It's like any transtasman rivalry," Phipps says. "We've all been told by people who've played in this before that the Aussies will do anything to get inside your head. There's plenty of mind games."
On top of the psychological element, the New Zealanders face the challenge of a longer, thicker mat and the slightly larger dimension of Australian bowls, while the Aussies must adjust to a shorter mat than that to which they're accustomed.
"The first time I threw up a bowl [with test-match equipment] it went about halfway down the mat," Wilson says.
"The Australians have a different playing style. They like to chase the jack all the time, while New Zealanders tend to play positionally, building a head."
Both are members of Tauranga's South City club, with Wilson serving as Tauranga Indoor Bowls Association president and Phipps relocating from New Plymouth last year.
Phipps, 48, will play lead in the men's four and triple. He holds four national titles - fours in '98 and '02, triples in '99 and pairs in '02. Representing the North Island five times since '05, he has captained the inter-island side and claimed four inter-island medals in the men's fours and three mixed fours titles.
Wilson, 36, will play skip in the women's pair and at No3 in the women's four. A 10-time North Island rep since 2001, she has a haul of seven inter-island medals - women's fours in '04 and women's pairs every year since '05. She also won the Truth Cup for the best woman in the national singles in '01.
New Zealand have three other new caps and three players recalled. Phipps reckons the Kiwis have a strong chance of emulating national side's success during the golden era, when New Zealand won eight tests on the trot from 1993 to 2007.
"The feeling is our side's a good blend of experience and youth. It was selected through the trials [in November], so everyone's in there on current form."
Wilson: "We're absolutely in it to win. If you don't go in with that attitude, you're not giving yourself your best shot."
It's a social game for thousands nationwide but for two Tauranga bowlers, Kiwi pride will be on the line next week as they try to roll the Aussies and reclaim transtasman honours.
Gearing up for the biennial test, Mike Phipps and Fiona Wilson are part of a new-look national team out
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