Last-round drama

TO THE VICTORS, THE SPOILS: Burton Cup winners (from left) Leighton Shanks, Queenie Takurua (skip), Adrienne Smiler and Mary Taingahue with the trophy that still draws New Zealand bowlers from near and far. Picture by Paul Rickard

Last-round nerves cost the youngest team big-time in the $3000 Burton Cup Classic Fours at the Gisborne Bowling Club yesterday.

Youngsters Lucy Shanks, Paige Richter and Brendan McIlroy and experienced hand July Williams looked unstoppable as they ripped through five of the six rounds over the weekend without a loss. Then they blinked.

And waiting, ready to pounce, was wily veteran Queenie Takurua, her daughter Adrienne Smiler, Mary Taingahue and Lucy’s brother Leighton Shanks.

To secure victory the Shanks four needed to win only one of the two games of pairs that made up the last round. Takurua had to win both.

Feeling the pressure, McIlroy and Lucy Shanks, going head to head with Leighton Shanks and Smiler, dropped their game 10-13 while teammates Richter and Williams were being taken to the cleaners by an out-of-contention Charlie Ure and Diane Phillips. Ten points lost.

Meanwhile, Takurua and Taingahue were blasting their way past Andy and Del Tamanui, winning by nine points and grabbing the Burton Cup by a point — 51 points to the Shanks combo’s 50.

Shanks and Co picked up the Makauri Cup as runners-up.

Endorsed as a Bowls New Zealand Summer of Bowls event and sponsored by the Eastland Group, the tournament attracted a full field of 16 teams from Auckland, Wellington, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay and a strong representation from some of the best, and rising talent, in the Gisborne-East Coast area.

The classic format — in which all teams play singles, pairs, triples and fours — has been a big hit with players. The event’s future, which was on shaky ground just a few years ago, looks assured.

Ten points are available in each of the six rounds and Mere Nepia, a former Hawke’s Bay singles champion, skipping Emily Hongara, Wayne Parker and Betty Herring, grabbed 43 points to finish third.

Paul Harrison, Dennis Biggs, Erin Sutherland and Geoff Pinn were fourth with 39 points.

Trundling quietly along, Arthur Hawes, Carol Hawes, David Beattie and Tim Sherriff sneaked into fifth place on 36 points. That’s a three-peat of placings for last year’s runners-up Arthur Hawes and Beattie.

Birkenhead’s Jack Huriwai, a former president of Bowls Gisborne-East Coast, skipping brother Hona Huriwai, Kelly Ross and Barbara Gibson, was sixth.

In the space of a year, the 2020 winners, albeit sans quality skip Jamey Ferris, went from top to bottom, finishing a distant last.

Bowls New Zealand president Mark O’Connor played throughout the weekend and presented the prizes.

Supporting sponsor Gear Meat kept the players and officials sustained throughout.