MEN’S WINNERS: Jamey Ferris’s Gisborne Bowling Club team won the J. J. Martin Memorial Trophy for centre men’s fours. They are (from left): Maurice Taylor, Ashli Ferris, skip Jamey Ferris and Steve Goldsbury. Picture supplied
It was a historic weekend for the Tolaga Bay Bowling Club when they hosted the Bowls Gisborne East Coast centre men’s and women’s fours last Saturday and Sunday.
The men’s winners, who received the prestigious J. J. Martin Memorial Fours trophy, were the Gisborne Bowling Club team of Jamey Ferris (skip), Steve Goldsbury (three), Maurice Taylor (two) and 15-year-old Gisborne Boys’ High School student Ashli Ferris (lead).
Jamey Ferris and Goldsbury were runners-up in this event in 2017 and this time turned the tables on Kahutia’s Vern Marshall (skip), George Vaotuua (three), Murray Duncan (two) and Mick Maunder (lead), the winners last season.
However, Team Marshall had the consolation of picking up the T. P. Smale Tankard for finishing second.
In the women’s event for the Rahiwi Cup, Kahutia’s Glenys Whiteman (skip), Francie Adair (three) and Dayvinia Mills (lead) repeated their 2017 win, this time with Marie Wright as the two.
Team Whiteman would be the first to concede their form was patchy, and they praised the play of the opposing finalists — Poverty Bay’s Erin Sutherland (skip), June Stichbury (three), Joy Davis (two) and Norma Miller (lead).
The Kahutia team also paid tribute to the play of Wairoa’s Glenda Kapene (skip), Donna Smith (three), club president Hine Whaanga (two) and Raelene Tangiora (lead), who lowered Whiteman’s colours in the first game of section play on Saturday. However, the gallant Wairoa side lost to Whiteman in a last-bowl semifinal thriller.
Some bowlers were sceptical about how the Tolaga Bay club would handle these two important tournaments.
Reservations inluded the distance to travel, the standard of the green, and the possible need for a second green.
Well, Tolaga Bay club members can hold their heads high. The nine women’s teams (including one from Wairoa) and the seven men’s sides agreed that the travel was not an issue, the playing surface prepared by dedicated club greenkeeper Chas Henry was up to centre standard, and the total of 16 teams fitted perfectly into the eight rinks available.
In men’s section play on Saturday, top qualifiers were Team Marshall, with nine points and a differential of +40. Their results included an incredible 39-1 win against Poverty Bay?s Larry Kaloucava.
However, the unflappable Kaloucava put that defeat behind him and finished third qualifier with nine points and a differential of -29.
Second were Team Goldsbury with nine points, +19, and the last team to qualify were Lex Kennedy’s four, with seven points, -1.
In the semifinals on Sunday, Marshall beat Kennedy 19-3 and Goldsbury defeated Kaloucava 19-9.
Full credit must go to both the Poverty Bay men’s teams for making the last four. The two secondary school students in Kaloucava’s team, Jareth Gaskin (lead) and Luke Sanders (two), would have gained valuable experience over the two days and David Holmes (three) gave valuable support to his skip.
Poverty Bay’s other semifinalists — Kennedy (skip), father and son Bruce and Andrew Ball, and Jeff Davis — had a memorable 14-12 win against Team Marshall in their second game on Saturday, and their 11-all draw in the fourth round got them fourth place and into post-section play the next day.
The 15-end, no-time-limit format was applied successfully in the semifinals and finals.
In the final, Team Goldsbury took an early lead that they never surrendered, and won 14-8.
Ashli Ferris was steady at lead, veteran Maurice Taylor with his multi-coloured bowls was always handy, and Goldsbury and skip Ferris worked well in tandem.
Marshall’s team were on the back foot for most of the game but the skip should be pleased with his performances overall and those of teammates Vaotuua, Duncan and Maunder.
In the women’s section play on Saturday, Wairoa’s Team Kapene had a day to remember.
They were the only side in both events to win all four of their games, and finished top qualifiers.
In their first game, they gave Team Whiteman no room to move, beating them 17-7.
In their third game, they got home 12-9 against the well-performed Te Karaka side skipped by Hawkes Bay’s Mere Nepia. However, Nepia with Del Tamanui (three), Janet Baty (two) and Sarah Brown (lead) won their three other games to finish second qualifiers, with Team Sutherland filling third spot, also with three wins.
Two close semifinals were played on Sunday morning.
Teams Nepia and Sutherland were locked in a close battle that went shot for shot, and the decision to remove the time limit from the semifinals was again justified.
Lead Miller came into her own in the latter stages and laid the foundation for Poverty Bay to scrape home 11-10 against a gallant Te Karaka side.
In the other semifinal, Team Kapene looked to be heading for a second win against Team Whiteman in the early stages and built a handy lead.
However, the Kahutia four rallied and steadily pegged back Kapene, taking a 13-12 lead with one end to play.
Nerves took over on the last end and the bowls were widespread. But it seemed Wairoa had two shots and the win after Kapene’s first bowl looked to be another counter.
Unfortunately for Kapene, her second effort was marginally narrow and promoted her opponents’ nearest bowl to shot. It meant a 14-12 win to Team Whiteman and the end of Wairoa’s gallant performances over the two days.
In the final, Team Sutherland got off to a good start and led 9-7 after nine ends.
But Team Whiteman sprang into life, scored 10 shots across four of the last five ends and led 17-10 with one end to go.
Sutherland played a great shot to score a treble, which made the final score 17-13 to Whiteman.
At the presentation of the trophies special mention was made of the continued sponsorship from Joe and Frank Martin, grandsons of the late J. J. Martin, who was prominent in local bowling circles and in the local Licensed Victuallers Association many years ago.
Centre president Mark Bain and the players were full of praise for the volunteers — Jo Atkins, Julia Knight and Pru Duncan in the kitchen, Ben Elkington in the bar, and greenkeeper Chas Henry.
In the winning men’s team, skip Jamey Ferris now has 11 centre senior titles, Steve Goldsbury has 38, Maurice Taylor has four and Ashli Ferris has his first.
In the winning women’s team, skip Glenys Whiteman extended her national record number of centre women’s titles to 61. Francie Adair now has 29, Marie Wright has eight and Dayvinia Mills has 17.