Players perform well

THREE WINS: Gisborne East Coast singles player Tanya Harrison, here preparing to send down a bowl in the centre open triples this month, had three wins at the Octagonal in Taranaki last weekend. One of them was against well-performed Hawke's Bay player Natarsha Grimshaw. Picture by Paul Rickard

A Gisborne East Coast team showed they could foot it with the better lawn bowlers in New Zealand when they contested the Octagonal in Taranaki last weekend.

A representative team of 10 women and 10 men travelled to Taranaki for matches against Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatu, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, Kapiti Coast and Wellington.

Both the women and men placed sixth after three gruelling days of play, and they achieved some impressive wins against tough opposition.

The players can be very proud of their efforts in an outstanding performance.

Each team consisted of two singles players, two pairs and a four.

In the women's competition, Tanya Harrison and Sarah Brown were the GEC singles players.

Harrison had wins against Wairarapa, Whanganui and well-performed Hawke's Bay bowler Natarsha Grimshaw.

Brown managed only one win, against Wairarapa.

Pairs combination Lyn Trueman and Kathryn Flaugere got the call-up the day before the team travelled, as two players had a bereavement in the family.

They certainly held their own, with wins against Kapiti Coast, Kristin Stampa's Whanganui and a team from home favourites Taranaki, skipped by Susan Cottam.

Queenie Takurua and Diane Murray were the backbone of the team, though, winning five of their seven games. They had wins against Taranaki, Manawatu, Kapiti Coast, Wairarapa and Whanganui.

The four of Carol Hawes, Bobbie Beattie (who also came into the team late), Paige Richter and Lesley McIntosh had a good tournament, too, with four wins — against Whanganui, Wellington, Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa.

Points: Wellington 28, Manawatu 20.5, Whanganui 18, Hawke's Bay and Taranaki 17.5, Gisborne East Coast 16, Kapiti Coast 12, Wairarapa 10.5.

The men held their own, too.

Jamey Ferris and Robin Jefferson played the singles.

Ferris had three wins, and big wins they were — he beat Wairarapa stalwart Ian Monaghan, national 2018 singles winner and 2019 national fours winner Dean Elgar of Taranaki, and promising young Wellington bowler Finbar McGuigan. Ferris had a close loss, 25-24, to Paul Sorensen, of Hawke's Bay.

Jefferson managed two wins, against Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa.

As much as Jefferson is competitive in every way on the green, I am sure this would have taken a fair bit out of him over the three days. In singles, you don't get to rest.

The pairs team of Malcolm Trowell and Arthur Hawes ended with two wins, against Hawke's Bay and Whanganui.

The other pair, Steve Goldsbury and Mark Walker, had a dream tournament losing only one game out of seven, that loss coming against Wairarapa.

They drew 18-all against a Taranaki pair that included 22-year-old Cook Islands representative Aidan Zittersteyn, who won bronze in the world pairs.

Goldsbury and Walker had wins against Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu (with Mark Noble, who won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland and silver at the 2018 Games in Australia), Kapiti Coast and Hawke's Bay.

The four of Bob McIlroy, Charlie Ure, Mick Maunder and Ben Elkington finished with two wins and a draw.

Their wins were against Hawke's Bay and Manawatu, and they drew with Wairarapa.

Points: Wellington 24, Taranaki 23.5, Manawatu 22, Whanganui 18.5, Kapiti Coast 17, Gisborne East Coast 15, Hawke's Bay 13.5, Wairarapa 6.5.