On the mats — Indoor bowls news

Tournament winners: Brothers Dylan (left) and Matthew Foster have won the North Island Eastern Zone Pairs Tournament for players with one to five years of indoor bowls experience. The win qualifies them to take part in the national finals in Porirua early next month. Picture by Rebecca Grunwell

Matthew and Dylan Foster have won the North Island Eastern Zone Pairs Tournament for players with one to five years of indoor bowls experience.

The tournament was played at the Whakatane Indoor Bowls Stadium, and the win there qualifies the brothers to compete in the national finals in Porirua next month.

Matthew Foster won the national final last year with his cousin Nathan Trowell and now has the opportunity to repeat the feat, this time as skip. Matthew is 16 and Dylan, 14.

Thirteen pairs contested the zone tournament, with three teams qualifying for post-section play.

In the final, the Foster brothers defeated Buzz Abraham and Kirstyn Harrison, of the Lake Taupo club, 17-5.

In the semifinal, the Fosters had defeated Jim Ritchie and Shelley Forster, from Scouts Club in the Bay of Plenty, 12-4.

In the 10-end final, Dylan’s consistent lead bowls set up the heads for his brother, and Matthew added the finishing touches.

The scores were level at 5-5 after four ends but then the Poverty Bay pair scored 3, 3, 3, 1 and 2 to lead 17-5 after nine ends, and Abraham conceded the game.

This event was introduced by New Zealand Indoor Bowls last year to encourage players who had been competing for less than five years to compete in a zone competition, the winners of which would go forward to national finals.

Eight zone winners of all ages meet in the national finals, which will be played on a round-robin basis so the teams play all the others to find the winners.

Andrew Rickard and Kayla Trowell have won the Friday night pairs competition, while Nathan Trowell has continued his great run, skipping his uncle Mike Foster to victory in the White Family Pairs Competition.