Milestone for Marshall

Vern Marshall

IT was a Kahutia double in the Peace Shield men’s and Ella Gibson women’s fours tournaments held on Te Karaka Bowling Club’s greens over the weekend.

Kahutia’s Vern Marshall and Glenys Whiteman skipped the winning teams, and Marshall’s success is understood to be his 50th centre title.

In the women’s competition, Whiteman’s four had five wins from their seven games, as did Lyn Trueman’s team.

Differentials made the difference — Whiteman’s plus 61 to Trueman’s +46.

Of the other teams, Jan Powell (Poverty Bay) had four wins and Bobbie Beattie (Gisborne) had three wins and a draw.

Whiteman’s team comprised Dayvinia Mills, Lucy Shanks and Francie Adair.

Whiteman and Mills ticked over another group of five centre wins, while Lucy Shanks now has a gold star for her fifth success at centre level.

Well done, ladies.

In the men’s competition, Marshall’s team got away to a slow start, losing their opening game to Bob McIlroy’s team, 20-4.

But they then kicked into gear, winning their next six games, while McIlroy’s team lost to Charlie Ure’s four in their third game, their only loss of the tournament.

With both Marshall and McIlroy having six wins from seven games, it came down to differentials. Marshall’s team took the honours, with a differential of +44 to McIlroy’s +36.

Marshall’s team comprised Mick Maunder, Murray Duncan and George Vaotuua.

It was the first centre success for Maunder and Duncan.

Congratulations must go to all parties, whether it is their first success at this level or, as in Marshall’s case, a milestone achieved over more than 30 years of bowls.

Other teams to feature were those of Ure (four and a half wins) and Steve Goldsbury (three wins).

The round-robin format proved popular. It gave the lesser teams the opportunity to play against the “name” players.

Of concern was the relatively modest showing by Goldsbury’s team, who reached the last four in New Zealand last year and included three of the representative team’s four, while David File’s team simply failed to fire.

Thanks go to Te Karaka. Your facility is great; your hospitality, superb.

The next centre event will be the champion of champions pairs being held on the Gisborne club’s greens this weekend.

The Gisborne-East Coast representative teams to play in Wellington from March 23 to 26 have been named. They are:

Men — Singles: Vern Marshall. Pairs: Robin Jefferson, Steve Goldsbury (skip). Fours: Bob McIlroy (s), Jamie Ferris, George Vaotuua, Ricky Miller.

Women — Singles: Sarah Brown. Pairs: Dayvinia Mills, Queenie Takurua (s). Fours: Lyn Trueman (s), Ronnie Crone, Ruby Tiepa, Ginny Sherriff.