The Poverty Bay East Coast indoor bowls representative team with the Gribble Rosebowl. Back (from left) are Kaye Easton (manager), Leighton Shanks, Jaykwan Casey, Mike Foster, Malcolm Trowell, Keith Setter, Dylan Foster, Warren Gibb, Matthew Foster and Lois Lamont. Front: Doc Tipene, Tina Smith, Jay Casey, Karyn Foster, Zoe Trowell, Bryan Pulley, Kayla Trowell and David Lynn.
The Poverty Bay East Coast indoor bowls representative team with the Gribble Rosebowl. Back (from left) are Kaye Easton (manager), Leighton Shanks, Jaykwan Casey, Mike Foster, Malcolm Trowell, Keith Setter, Dylan Foster, Warren Gibb, Matthew Foster and Lois Lamont. Front: Doc Tipene, Tina Smith, Jay Casey, Karyn Foster, Zoe Trowell, Bryan Pulley, Kayla Trowell and David Lynn.
Poverty Bay East Coast indoor bowls team created history in winning the Gribble Rosebowl tournament in Napier last weekend.
A 16-member PBEC representative side competed against combinations from Hawke’s Bay, Bay of Plenty and Tauranga.
PBEC started competing in the Gribble Rosebowl in 2022, and this was the first time the district had won it.
It was also the first major win for a PBEC 16-member representative team in 30 years.
PBEC were never in front over two days of close competition until the final round of fours.
At the end of the first day, BoP led with 78 points, followed by PBEC on 73, Tauranga 71 and HB 66.
Scoring remained close on Sunday. The day started with a round of singles from which HB surged to the lead on 93, two ahead of PBEC (91), followed by BoP on 87 and Tauranga 81.
At the completion of the pairs round, BoP had regained the lead with 105, PBEC trailed on 100 and HB and Tauranga were close behind on 99 and 96 respectively.
A tense round of fours determined the final placings.
PBEC secured all 16 points from their matches to secure overall victory.
The final points were PBEC 116, HB 109, BoP 105 and Tauranga 102.
Top PBEC scorers were Dylan Foster with 7.5 wins from nine games; Leighton Shanks, Warren Gibb and Keith Setter with seven wins; Matthew Foster with 6.5 wins; and Kayla Trowell with six wins.
While the PBEC team were in Napier, brother and sister Sean and Sophie Haskins travelled to Whakatāne for the North Island Eastern Zone singles and pairs event for players with up to five years of indoor bowls experience.
From a field of 14, Sean and Sophie qualified in the singles event. Sean made it to the final against defending champion Matthew Spargo, of Tauranga, who retained the title with a 14-5 win.
