Gold for Gisborne’s Mills at Oceania tournament in Auckland

Gisborne bowler Dayvinia Mills struck gold as a member of the Aotearoa Māori women's fours team at the Oceania Challenge tournament in Auckland. Photo / Trevor Mills

Gisborne bowler Dayvinia Mills won gold as a member of the Aotearoa Māori women’s four at the World Bowls Oceania Challenge tournament in Auckland.

Kahutia Bowling Club member and former national singles titleholder Mills played lead; former Blackjack and Wellington representative Lisa White, now of Kāpiti Coast, was at two; Waikato player Gaylene Kanawa was at three; and Auckland’s Aggie Motu was skip.

Other teams in the tournament were Australia Development, the New Zealand Under-26s, Samoa, Tonga, Norfolk Island, Niue, Tokelau and the Cook Islands.

Matches were played at the New Lynn and Royal Oak bowling clubs, both of which had covered greens and artificial carpet playing surfaces.

On the first day of the fours, Aotearoa Māori were unbeaten across four games of two seven-end sets (with three-end tiebreaks if needed).

In fours medal playoffs the next day, Aotearoa Māori reached the final, where experience triumphed over potential as they comfortably beat the Australia Development team coached by Sport Australia Hall of Fame 2024 inductee Karen Murphy.

Aotearoa Māori players had little time to celebrate because they had two more days of play in pairs and triples.

Motu and her lead, Lisa Prideaux, won bronze in the pairs. Prideaux’s son Beau was in the Australian men’s team at the tournament.

Kanawa, White and Mills just missed out on bronze in the triples, pipped by Norfolk Island in a tiebreak.

Aotearoa Māori finished second in the competition for overall points, four behind Australia.

At the end of the tournament it was announced that Auckland would again be the event venue in 2025 and 2026.