ON THE MATS: Indoor bowls news

Trophy winners: Poverty Bay-East Coast ended their representative season by winning the Hunt Trophy in Napier before lockdown. They are, back (from left): Coralie Campbell-Whitehead (reserve), Doc Tipene, Mike Foster, Warren Edlin and Bryan Pulley (manager). Front: Andrew Rickard, Adam Rickard, David Lynn, Hina Preddey and Bruce Easton. Picture supplied

Poverty Bay-East Coast players marked their last representative event of the season by winning the Hunt Trophy in Napier the weekend before the Covid lockdown started.

Selected to play for NZCT Poverty Bay-East Coast against Napier and Central Hawke's Bay in this event were Andrew Rickard, Doc Tipene, Adam Rickard and Warren Edlin in one team, and David Lynn, Bruce Easton, Hina Preddey and Mike Foster (making his representative debut) in the other.

In the first round of fours, both PBEC teams were in control and won their games to record eight points.

The next round was singles, and the team didn't have a good round. Only two of the eight players won their singles.

That changed the lead. Napier were on 16 points, PBEC were on 12 and Central Hawke's Bay were on eight.

The team then paired up and recorded two wins and a draw out of the four games to close the gap to Napier. At this stage, Napier had 20.5 points, PBEC had 19.5 and CHB, 14.

In the second session, PBEC won both their fours games to get back into the lead with 27.5pts, against Napier's 24.5 and Central Hawke's Bay's 14.

In the second-last round, singles, again PBEC didn't have a good round. They won only four games from the eight, and trailed Napier, who had a great round.

Napier had six wins and a draw in the singles to streak ahead. They now had 37.5pts, PBEC had 35.5 and CHB, 17.

In the last round, PBEC players knew that with each game of pairs worth three points, they had to win at least three games out of the four. Importantly, they had to win both games against Napier.

Easton and Foster played one Napier team, and Lynn and Preddey, the other.

After titanic battles, both pairs beat Napier. But it looked as if they would be placed second after the other two PBEC teams lost to Central Hawke's Bay.

However, in a cut-throat round, one of the Central Hawke's Bay teams also beat Napier. This meant PBEC had recorded six points to Napier's three in the pairs.

The final scores were: Poverty Bay-East Coast 41.5 points, Napier 40.5 and Central Hawke's Bay 26.

Poverty Bay-East Coast reserve Coralie Campbell-Whitehead and team manager Bryan Pulley must have been on the edge of their seats while witnessing the team's victory.