FOUR Poverty Bay Bowling Club teams have qualified for the regional final of the Tiger Turf Winter League. They will play on their home greens when Hawke’s Bay qualifiers come to Gisborne to play in the regional final at Poverty Bay on July 23.
The winter league is only forclubs with a Tiger Turf all-weather playing surface. It is played nationwide and culminates in an Auckland final on August 27. Poverty Bay staged its qualifying round on its all-weather green on Saturday.
Play is based on an Australian format of short, sharp games of two five-end sets, power ends (for double points), player rotation and time restrictions on shots. It all makes for an interesting day of fun for players and spectators.
Sixteen teams of three players were drawn into four sections. After the qualifying games, the four section winners were: Mo Kopua, George Vaotuua and Leighton Shanks; Jon Davies, Peter Oliver and Peter Walters; Boon McIlroy, Ben Brown and Sarah Brown; and Lex Kennedy, Val McGreevy and Wes Baillie.
These teams will contest the regional final at Poverty Bay on July 23. With the regional finalists decided, the four qualifying teams continued with semifinal and final matches.
Davies beat McIlroy, and Kennedy beat Kapua in the semifinals. The final was close. Kennedy’s team taking the first set 8-3 using a power end to advantage, scoring three shots to add six to their score. The second set was even closer. Neither team could capitalise on their power end.
On the the final end, Kennedy led 5-3. With the last bowl about to be played, the Davies team held one of the two shots needed to draw level, but they could not add the other scoring shot. This left the final score in the second set at 5-4 to Kennedy’s team.
Prizes were presented by Pip Griffin, representing Kiri Te Kanawa Retirement Village, co-sponsors for the day.
