TOP AGAIN: Jamey Ferris won the men’s open singles.File picture
BOWLS
MEN
Gisborne Bowling Club’s Jamey Ferris has cemented his claim for the singles berth in the Bowls Gisborne-East Coast team to play in the Bowls NZ Intercentre event this season.
He won the Martin Cup Centre Men’s Open Singles at the weekend . . . for the third time.
The 39-year-old greenkeeper for the Gisborne and Kahutia bowling clubs again showed that the dedication and discipline displayed in his work also applied to his chosen sport.
Still technically a junior player (eight years of bowls experience or less), Ferris showed his approach to the game was maturing. This lessened the amount of risk when he was in tight situations and he played the right shot at the right time.
Having won the centre fours and pairs already this season, he was in a confident frame of mind for the centre singles.
On Saturday, 24 bowlers turned out for section play at the Kahutia Bowling Club. Ferris started with a one-sided 21-3 win against Tolaga Bay’s Mark Walker.
He then had victories over Kahutia’s Bruno Lourie 19-17, Tolaga Bay’s John Kora 21-8 and Poverty Bay’s Steve Berezowski 21-11.
One of the pleasing aspects of Saturday’s play was the return of Te Karaka’s Adam McIlroy to the sport after a couple of years away. Always a gifted player, he soon showed he had not lost his touch with wins against Kora 21-4, his father Bob McIlroy 21-18 and Gisborne’s Ricky Miller 21-11 to also qualify for post-section play.
A feature game of the first round was the clash between regular rep player Vern Marshall, of Kahutia, and the Centre men’s selector Steve Goldsbury.
Marshall was in top form, winning 21-12 and then going on to beat Naenae’s Ken Addley 21-7 and clubmate George Vaotuua 21-9 to get the three wins to qualify.
Goldsbury recovered from his first-round defeat to beat Kahutia’s Murray Duncan 21-8, Wairoa’s Graham Fitzpatrick 21-3 and Gisborne’s Malcolm Trowell 21-15.
Two Kahutia players to make post-section play were Alastair Macpherson and Bruno Lourie. Macpherson was in good form, beating Wairoa’s Wayne Bestford 21-4, clubmate Mike Howes 21-14 and Trowell 21-18.
Although beaten by Ferris, Lourie had wins against Adam McIlroy 21-13, and Poverty Bay’s Bruce and Andrew Ball, 21-13 and 21-11 respectively.
Gisborne’s Charlie Ure recovered from his 21-17 first-round loss to Fitzpatrick to record wins against Duncan 21-14, Bestford 21-18 and Howes 21-9.
Also showing good form was Ure’s clubmate Ricky Miller, who had three comfortable wins against Andrew Ball 21-6, Gerry Kora 21-10 and Bruce Ball 21-13.
Tolaga Bay’s Mark Walker recovered from his first-up loss to Ferris to advance with victories over Andrew Ball 21-12 and clubmates Gerry Kora 21-10 and George Taingahue, also 21-10.
With nine players qualifying for post-section play the draw meant only one game in the first round and seven byes into the second round. Marshall and McIlroy drew each other.
Theirs was an exciting match of a standard fit for a final. McIlroy withstood a late challenge from Marshall to get home 21-18.
This meant McIlroy was up against the titleholder Ferris in the second round. With the scores locked at 9-9 at one stage, another tight game was in prospect. However, Ferris found another gear and raced away to win 21-9.
At the top of the second-round draw, Goldsbury beat Walker 21-12, Macpherson beat Ure 21-16 and Miller beat Lourie 21-8.
In the semifinals, Ferris beat Miller 21-9 and Macpherson caused a minor upset when he beat Goldsbury 21-17.
Spectators were predicting an easy win for Ferris against Macpherson in the final but the Kahutia player jumped away to a 10-5 lead after eight ends.
However, Macpherson dropped a maximum count of four shots to let Ferris back into the game on the next end and another four shots on the 12th end and also on the 14th end meant Ferris led 20-11 and was only one shot away from victory.
Macpherson wasn’t finished, though, and staged a comeback to close it to 20-15.
On the 18th end, Macpherson’s first two bowls were touchers right on the jack. Without hesitating, Ferris drove successfully, which ended with both his toucher bowl and the jack ending up in the ditch for what became the crucial winning shot. Macpherson failed to remedy the situation with his last two bowls and Ferris had successfully defended his 2017 win to have his name engraved on the Martin Cup for a third time.
WOMEN
Kahutia’s Marie Wright capped a great display of steady draw bowls over the weekend to win the Brown Whanau Trophy Centre Women’s Open Singles for the first time.
She defeated Gisborne’s Queenie Takurua in an exciting final that went down to the wire.
Wright has been a consistent performer over the years and was thrilled to win the event.
A 14-strong field contested section play at Gisborne Bowling Club on Saturday morning and some great games were played on an excellent surface.
The 2016 and 2017 winner, Kahutia’s Dayvinia Mills, had to pull out all the stops against Te Karaka’s Del Tamanui, who was in top form. Mills got home 21-17 and went on to get the necessary three wins to qualify for post-section play. She also beat Tolaga Bay’s Mary Taingahue (a winner of this event in 2008) 21-17 and Gisborne’s Tanya Harrison 21-15.
Taingahue has returned to the game after some time away.
She showed she had not lost any of her talent by beating 2016 runner-up Ngawai Turipa (Poverty Bay) 21-11 and Adrienne Smiler 21-17 and making post-section play.
Turipa also made post-section after recovering from her first-ound loss to beat Harrison 21-20 in a cliffhanger, Gisborne’s Barbara Gibson 21-14 and Kahutia’s Emily Hongara 21-4.
Kahutia’s Glenys Whiteman showed improved form from her club singles the previous weekend by having comfortable wins against Harrison 21-11, Gibson 21-12 and clubmate Hongara 21-9 for her three wins.
The matriarch of Gisborne-East Coast Bowls, Queenie Takurua, started well with a 21-17 win against Hongara, but then lost to Wright 21-18, recovered to beat junior player Lucy Shanks 21-3 and survived a close match and measure to defeat the luckless Tamanui 21-20. This measure was the difference in Takurua qualifying for post-section and Tamanui not qualifying.
Wright was put to the test in her first two games in section play, with close battles against Takurua’s daughter Adrienne Smiler and Takurua herself. However, Wright fended off these two challenges, winning both games 21-18. She then went on to win her third game, against Gisborne’s Ginny Sherriff, 21-9.
Nevertheless, Sherriff went on to qualify with wins against clubmate Gibson 21-12, Hongara 21-6 and Shanks 19-17, in a tight game where the result prevented Shanks from qualifying.
Seven players qualified for post-section play on Sunday morning at the Kahutia Bowling Club, with three games in the quarterfinals and Sherriff having the bye.
Wright put paid to Taingahue’s chances, beating her 21-9. On a nearby rink, Mills and Whiteman were locked in a tremendous battle, Mills finally getting home 20-19 after the time limit signal had sounded.
Takurua showed no mercy in her game against Turipa, winning 21-7, and continued her great form in the semifinals, beating Mills 21-11.
Wright continued her excellent form, beating Sherriff 21-14.
The final was set for a great showdown — Wright with her consistent draw game against Takurua’s positive and aggressive style.
Wright had beaten Takurua in section play but this was the final.
Wright led 10-4 after eight ends but Takurua recovered and the scores were locked at 11-all after 13 ends.
Then Wright went on a scoring blitz and at 20-11 up needed only one more shot to take the title.
However, Takurua drew on all her years of bowling experience to stage a mighty comeback to 20-all.
Things were tense, and the first two bowls from each player were well away from the jack.
Wright then played the best pressure bowl of her career. Her third bowl drew right to the jack for a front toucher.
Takurua had two bowls left but both attempts to dislodge Wright’s bowl missed and Marie Wright became the 2018 winner of the centre women’s singles.
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