The tide started to turn in the fifth round — singles again. Hawke’s Bay won seven games to Poverty Bay-East Coast’s five.
At the end of Day 1, PBEC led 51-39.
On Day 2, Hawke’s Bay changed their team. It seemed their selector put her Top 8 bowlers into two of the three teams, and it showed. They drew the sixth round — pairs again — 9-9.
Then they upped the tempo, and Hawke’s Bay won two of the three games of fours to close it to 64-56.
Poverty Bay-East Coast dug deep in Round 8 — singles again — to take six wins and a draw against Hawke’s Bay’s five wins and a draw. That made it 77-67.
Round 9 — pairs again — wasn’t pretty for PBEC. They were lucky to win two games to Hawke’s Bay’s four. with the final score 83-79.
If Hawke’s Bay had won just one game more, they would have won the event .