Family ties link winning pairs

DOUBLE ACTS: Gisborne Bowling Club’s Jamey Ferris is pictured on his way to winning the Bowls Gisborne East Coast champion of champions men’s pairs title at the weekend. In the background, playing on an adjacent rink, his son Ashli is on his way to winning the same event for bowlers with less than eight years’ bowls experience. Ferris Snr skipped Steve Goldsbury and Ferris Jnr skipped Steve Ward. Pictures supplied

Father and son Jamey and Ashli Ferris, and husband and wife Steve and Kay Goldsbury were all winners in centre champion of champions pairs bowls at the weekend.

They are members of Gisborne Bowling Club, whose members won three of the four titles on offer to add to the already-impressive total achieved this season.

Now in its 135th year, the club hosted the Gisborne East Coast centre champion of champions pairs on its immaculately prepared maniatoto greens, which rate among the best in the country.

Spectators enjoyed a high standard of bowls over the two days.

The senior men’s division featured a titanic struggle between Gisborne’s Jamey Ferris and Steve Goldsbury and Te Karaka pair David File and Duncan Macpherson.

They played each other three times over the two days. Gisborne won the first game 16-9, Te Karaka won the second 16-13 and an extra end was needed to separate the teams in the decider, after the regulation 18 ends produced a scoreline of 18-all. Gisborne got the vital point to win 19-18.

That one-point win gave Ferris and Goldsbury the opportunity to enter the Bowls NZ National Champion of Champions Fours to be played in Dunedin in July.

Wairoa’s Graham Fitzpatrick and Brent Smith looked as if they would take Ferris and Goldsbury’s remaining life in the semifinal when they were ahead 15-11 with three ends to play.

But the Gisborne pair applied the pressure and got home by 18 shots to 15.

Earlier in the day, 15-year-old Gisborne Boys’ High School student Ashli Ferris skipped Steve Ward to victory in the junior men’s pairs for players with less than eight years of bowls experience.

The Gisborne Bowling Club pair were not really seriously challenged over the weekend with wins against Kahutia’s Mike Howes and Willy Murray 21-8 and Tolaga Bay’s Anton Tashkoff and Ben Elkington 18-11 in the final, after they led 16-2 at one stage.

Not to be outdone, the host club’s Kay Goldsbury and Ginny Sherriff took out the women’s junior pairs convincingly, with wins against Te Karaka pair Diane Murray and Michelle Brown 23-12, Poverty Bay’s Robyn Arthur and Norma Miller 18-12, and Te Karaka again in the final, 19-6.

This victory gave Goldsbury her fourth junior champion of champions title and Sherriff her third.

Kahutia pair Marie Wright and Dayvinia Mills prevented a Gisborne clean sweep by winning the senior women’s event.

They had a roller-coaster ride over the two days, losing 18-14 to Gisborne’s Carol Hawes and Lesley McIntosh in their first game, beating Te Karaka pair Sarah Brown and Janet Baty 17-11 in their second, and beating Gisborne 15-13 in their third.

After a bye on Sunday morning, Kahutia found themselves in a sudden-death showdown with Poverty Bay’s Ora Peipi and Val McGreevy.

It was a great struggle. Wright and Mills only gained the advantage over the last three ends to take the game 19-12.

In the final, both Kahutia and Tolaga Bay (Jo Atkins and Mary Taingahue) had one life left.

The game was evenly contested until Kahutia scored a maximum six shots on the 12th end. They continued to increase their lead and eventually took out the title by 23 shots to 10.

This win give them the opportunity to play in the Bowls NZ finals in Dunedin.

The centre champion of champions series ends this weekend when Poverty Bay Bowling Club hosts the senior and junior mixed pairs.