“The other bowlers were consistently playing long ends, so I changed it to short ends, bringing the jack right up to halfway.
“It threw them.”
Each time bowlers win an end, they deliver the jack (the white ball that serves as the target) for the next end.
“At 14-1, I thought, ‘I have to do something about this’,” Mills said.
“The reason I got the jack was that she (Stevenson) threw it out of bounds. That gave me a chance to introduce short ends.
“I hadn’t used that tactic before, but I go down to Kahutia Bowling Club every day after work and practise for an hour and a half, and I vary the length.”
Mills won the match 21-18.
Her opponent in the last round-robin game, Northland bowler Sue Wightman, another former national singles champion, had been unbeaten on Day 1. But yesterday Wightman lost her Round 4 game against Mary Campbell, of Tauranga South, 21-19.
That meant the Round 5 match between Wightman and Mills was effectively the title decider, as both had lost just one game.
Mills used the short-end tactic in one end against Wightman.
“I did it just to check out my opposition . . . I got three shots on that end. But then the wind got stronger and I had to lengthen it. In strong winds it’s better to have the ends longer to let the bowl drift in. If you play narrow ends, it gets blown all over the place.”
Mills beat Wightman 21-6.
Mills, 61, is from the Bartlett family of Tolaga Bay. She started playing bowls 12 years ago in Putaruru, then played for the Riverside club in Gisborne, the Silverstream club in Upper Hutt and, since 2009, the Kahutia club in Gisborne. She has 15 Gisborne-East Coast centre titles. The club singles is her first national title.
Mills is at two in the Kahutia team contesting the national club fours on Thursday and Friday next week. The others in the team are Glenys Whiteman (skip), Francie Adair (three) and Lucy Shanks (lead).
