On the mats — indoor bowls news

WINNERS: Among recent indoor bowls winners were (from left) Arnold Hutchins, Nathan Trowell, John Harvey, Matthew Foster, Bryan Pulley, Nanette Treloar and David Lynn. Picture by Rebecca Grunwell

David Lynn will fly to Christchurch in September to contest the New Zealand Henselite singles finals, after winning the local final of the event last Sunday.

Lynn played John Harvey in the nine-end final.After four ends, Lynn led 4-3 and after End 6, Lynn was 6-3 up. On End 7, though, Lynn went to take one of Harvey’s bowls out of the head with a run shot but was too narrow, killing the kitty and giving Harvey two penalty points, which closed the score to 6-5.

One point to Lynn on End 8 made it 7-5.

On the last end, three bowls were touching the kitty. Harvey had last bowl, and had a chance to roll Lynn’s toucher over for three points to win the game. However, he went a fraction wide and picked up only one point to give Lynn a 7-6 victory.

In the semifinal, Lynn had defeated the in-form Pauline Stone 7-6, Stone having put out last year’s winner, Nathan Trowell, in a great display of bowls one game before.

In the other semifinal, Harvey had been too good for Andrew Rickard, winning 10-2.

FOURTEEN-year-old Nathan Trowell and his 15-year-old cousin Matthew Foster were in Whakatane for the New Zealand Zone pairs competition for indoor bowlers with one to five years of bowls experience.

They were too strong for the opposition and booked their place in the New Zealand finals taking place in Nelson in August. This is a New Zealand Indoor Bowls Federation initiative for new bowlers.

Trowell and Foster easily qualified for the sudden-death playoffs with wins of 10-4, 16-2, 19-3 and 13-3.

Seven teams qualified, and Trowell and Foster went into overdrive against Bay of Plenty’s Damon Foster and Bailey Irwin, winning the last-seven game 16-2.

In the semifinal, they defeated Graeme Klitcher and Muriel Campney, of Tauranga, 14-6.

In the final, Trowell and Foster beat Buz Abraham and Kirstyn Harrison, of the Bay of Plenty, 13-5.

Foster set up the heads with great draw bowls throughout, and Trowell continued the good work, earning their all-expenses-paid flights to Nelson.

Arnold Hutchins, John Harvey, Bryan Pulley and Nanette Treloar won the local final of the over-60 fours event against Bruce Easton, Warren Gibb, Ian Greeks and Pauline Stone under a two-life system.

In Game 1, the scores were locked at 7-7 after eight of the nine ends were played. On the last bowl of that game, three-time national champion Hutchins played a superb bowl to pick up the kitty for two shots and the win.

In Game 2, the score was close throughout. After nine ends, the score was locked at 7-7, meaning a deciding end had to be played. On the last bowl of that game, Easton nabbed the shot to win 8-7. This meant one more game was needed.

Again it was a cliffhanger. Hutchins led 6-5 going into the last end. On that end, Hutchins held the shot but Easton had last bowl.

Easton played that bowl with weight to try to get the shot, but narrowly missed. This gave the Hutchins team a 7-5 win, booking their place in the New Zealand over-60s zone final in Whakatane in June.