Nepia, Ball singles champions

Andrew Ball holds the J J Martin Cup he received for winning the centre men's singles. With him is runner-up Steve Goldsbury.

Mere Nepia of Kahutia Bowling Club and Andrew Ball of the Gisborne club are the Bowls Gisborne-East Coast centre singles champions for 2023.

Both are first-time winners of this event. Nepia was presented with the Brown Whanau Trophy and Ball, the J J Martin Cup.

The event was held over the weekend at Gisborne Bowling Club, where Ball is the greenkeeper.

Fourteen bowlers entered the women’s competition and 22, the men’s. Eight women and 16 men qualified for post-section play on Sunday.

In the women’s final, Nepia defeated Dianne Phillips 21-16 in difficult weather. Phillips, who also reached the pairs final three weeks ago, was ahead 13-9 after 13 ends but Nepia played some impressive shots to win seven of the last nine ends.

She controlled the game in its latter stages, forcing Phillips to play some difficult shots. When Phillips did manage to move the kitty away from the shot bowl, Nepia’s bowl placement prevented Phillips from scoring enough points to get back into the game.

Nepia played Jasmine Merrick in her semifinal and led throughout to win 21-13.

Phillips played Diane Murray in the other semifinal. Phillips led by just one point, 10-9, after 12 ends but then scored six more shots in the next three ends to give her a 16-9 lead and she went on to win the game 21-14.

In the quarterfinals, Merrick beat last year’s winner, Karen Pinn, after coming from behind to score seven shots in the last three ends to take the game. Murray played previous winner Dayvinia Mills and controlled the game throughout for a comfortable win. The other two quarterfinalists were Kathryn Flaugere and Helen Hunt, who has returned to bowls after a significant break away. It is pleasing to see her returning to her previous good form.

In the men’s final, Ball, who is still a junior, had a close and tense battle with the experienced Steve Goldsbury, until the scores reached 11-all. Ball then broke away on the 17th end, winning two ends in a row by three shots.

Goldsbury fought back but Ball held his nerve and finished strongly to take the win 21-13. Both men played exceptional draw bowls, and Ball played some accurate run shots at crucial times to take scoring shots away from his opponent.

Ball got off to a slow start in his semifinal against Paul Everett, but steadily closed the gap and won each of the final two ends by three to secure a 21-16 win. He had a similar game in his quarterfinal against previous singles winner July Hoepo. He came from behind to level the scores at 14-all, then won two consecutive ends by three to take the game away from Hoepo.

Goldsbury was runner-up in this event last year and he came up against Malcolm Trowell, last year’s winner, in the quarterfinal. It was a tough battle and Goldsbury won the last end by two to take a 14-13 win.

Goldsbury went on to play Jack Clark in his semifinal. Clark, a junior, got off to a good start and led 10-3 before Goldsbury took control and won 11 ends while Clark scored only two more points. The final score was 18-12.

The other two quarterfinalists in the men’s event were George Tamihana and Steve Jenkins, who both played some good bowls to get that far into the tournament.