TAKING AIM: Te Karaka Bowling Club’s Sarah Brown lines up a bowl in Te Karaka Triples action. Brown is in the Gisborne East Coast women’s Red team for the intercentre fixture against Hawke’s Bay at the Gisborne Bowling Club greens over the weekend. File picture by Paul Rickard
BOWLS
TWO days of intense competition await players and spectators when Gisborne Bowling Club hosts the annual intercentre fixture between Gisborne East Coast and Hawke’s Bay this weekend.
Hawke’s Bay will be defending their hold on the Challenge Trophy.
In a tried-and-true format used by both centres in recent seasons, 32 bowlers from each centre have been split into four eight-person teams. That means a total of 64 players on the greens on Saturday afternoon and Sunday.
Singles games will be 25 shots; pairs, 18 ends; and fours, 15 ends. All games will have a time limit of two and a half hours.
The visitors will travel to Gisborne tomorrow morning and arrive at the venue for lunch at 11am, with play expected to start around midday.
In the first round, eight games of singles and four games of pairs and fours will be played simultaneously.
The second round will be all fours games, which will test players’ versatility.
Play starts at 8.30am on Sunday, with the third round being played to the same format as the first round, with reverse singles.
The last round could be crucial, with 16 pairs games going at the same time.
In the past, the trophy winners have sometimes been decided in this round.
Play is scheduled to finish around 1.30pm, with lunch and the trophy presentation to follow.
The Hawke’s Bay teams have been training since June, using the indoor green at Clubs Hastings during the winter months. Having this covered facility has proved to be most valuable for preparing the players for the coming season’s representative fixtures.
Hawke’s Bay women’s selector Lillian Tukiri is pleased that their three-year plan for player development is helping to change the team culture while preparing the centre for the future by building team spirit and getting commitment from players for the season’s rep fixtures.
Both Hawke’s Bay women’s teams are a mixture of senior and development players and some of them have Gisborne connections.
Team captain for Hawke’s Bay Black is Gisborne resident and former Counties Manukau rep Gaylene Harvey, who is playing her bowls in Hawke’s Bay with usual playing partner Natarsha Grimshaw now living there again.
Former Wairoa bowler Robyn Wallace is also in the Hawke’s Bay Black team. She won Gisborne East Coast Centre titles when she played in this centre.
In Hawke’s Bay White is Meri Nepia, born and bred at Manutuke. She has been a regular member of Hawke’s Bay rep teams.
The Hawke’s Bay men’s teams will be without two of their leading bowlers, Murray Glassey and Dean Drummond, due to overseas playing commitments.
New Hawke’s Bay men’s selector Tony Terry rates this intercentre fixture as important for the development of their up-and-coming players. For this reason, he has selected a separate development team of younger bowlers, looking to the future of bowls in Hawke’s Bay.
Terry is also impressed with the standard of the Gisborne East Coast centre’s greens, which he says are a pleasure to play on.
However, he still has experienced players to call on and most will be familiar with the Gisborne greens. That applies particularly to Ian Mason, who has represented his centre for over 40 years and been a great role model. Joining him in the Hawke’s Bay Black team are regulars Neil Barron, Paul Harrison, Pat Golder and Dave Henderson.
A feature of the Hawke’s Bay Men’s Development White team is the selection of Waipukurau’s Len Lynskey, who attended Lytton High School in the 1960s and excelled in tennis and football. All members of his team will no doubt gain valuable experience at this level over the two days.
Gisborne East Coast men’s selector Steve Goldsbury wants another strong performance from his players following their early-season victory over their Bay of Plenty counterparts at Ohope by eight games to five.
He has been impressed with newcomers John Kanawa (formerly of Counties Manukau) and Bruno Lourie (formerly of Thames Valley), who have shown the necessary versatility and ability to fill different playing positions.
Goldsbury was also pleased with the performance of singles players Graham Fitzpatrick (Wairoa) and Charlie Ure (Gisborne) at the centre interclub event last month and also the good form shown by Gisborne’s Arthur Hawes in the centre pairs last weekend.
The Gisborne East Coast women’s teams have been affected by a clash with the Clubs NZ North Island Women’s Fours, which starts on Monday at Tokoroa.
Some local players entered in that event were unavailable because of their need to travel to that venue on Sunday morning. This made the final selections difficult for selector Emily Hongara, who also had to contend with last-minute withdrawals and the need to find replacements at short notice.
Two players in good form in the Red team are Bobbie Beattie and Tanya Harrison, who were runners-up in the centre pairs last weekend. But they will need the support of the rest of the team to match the strong challenge of their Hawke’s Bay opposition.
Singles player Dayvinia Mills, a national titleholder from last season, will need to show her best form against her experienced Hawke’s Bay opponents.
Lytton High School student Paige Richter and clubmate Lucy Shanks are two of the younger brigade who will have to be at their best against the well-prepared visiting teams.
The women’s Blue team will be anchored by Poverty Bay’s Ora Peipi, who skipped her team to a win in her club’s championship fours.
Ngawai Turipa played well in the centre pairs and is also an underrated singles player.
Te Karaka’s Del Tamanui has been called into the side following the withdrawal of Beverly Davy because of injury.
The Gisborne East Coast teams to play Hawke’s Bay are —
Men’s Blue Team: Vern Marshall (team captain), Bruno Lourie, Murray Murton (Kahutia); Jamey Ferris, John Kanawa, Mal Trowell, Steve Goldsbury, Bob McIlroy (Gisborne).
Men’s Red Team: Graham Fitzpatrick (Wairoa), Charlie Ure, Arthur Hawes, Bruce Easton, Dave Beattie, Ricky Miller (Gisborne), Mick Maunder (Kahutia), Chas Henry (Tolaga Bay).
Men’s selector/coach: Steve Goldsbury. Manager: Ben Brown.
Women’s Red Team: Dayvinia Mills, Lucy Shanks, Paige Richter (Kahutia), Bobbie Beattie, Tanya Harrison, Queenie Takurua (Gisborne), Val McGreevy (Poverty Bay), Sarah Brown (Te Karaka).
Women’s Blue Team: Ngawai Turipa, Joy Davis, Ora Peipi (Poverty Bay), Diane Oates, Anita Vaotuua (Kahutia), Ginny Sherriff, Barbara Gibson (Gisborne), Del Tamanui (Te Karaka).
Women’s selector: Emily Hongara.