Bowls: John Poots 43 not out in Webber Shield

Bowls Heretaunga president Jim Bentley, left, with one of his club's teams which will play in the Webber Shield tournament. From left are Mike Friar, John Poots, Lyndon Carrington and Doug Walford. Photo/Paul Taylor

John Poots will play in his 43rd Webber Shield bowls tournament when the 71st edition of the annual men's fours event starts at Bowls Heretaunga tomorrow and continues until Sunday.

"Don't tell my wife ... she always thought I was up at the old folks home looking after her mother for most of the previous ones I was at," Poots quipped sparking a bout of hilarity among his teammates.

Jokes flowed at regular intervals as Poots, 80, the oldest player in the tournament, joined his Bowls Heretaunga teammates, skip Doug Walford, three Mike Friar and two Lyndon Carrington for a pre-tournament ale last night. It's an indication of the amount of fun this quartet will have during the next four days. "Yes we will go out and try hard but we will still have plenty of fun along the way. Our biggest fear is the bar running dry," Walford explained.

It will be the first time this four has played as a team. Lead Poots, who has been in the final four times and won it once when he skipped the tournament's winning team in 2003, has won 14 club titles and four centre titles.

"I've played with seven different skips in this tournament and they are all dead now ... with that record I'm surprised Doug picked me this week," Poots joked.

A brother of world champion Black Sox softballers Owen and Paul Walford, Walford, 74, said work commitments often make it tough for him when selecting teams for the event.

"I know what it's like for a lot of the blokes. When I was working as an engineer at the Pacific Freezing Works I was often unable to play in tournaments."

He had no hesitation in giving Carrington, 66, a call for the event. Carrington recently won all five of his games on the way to victory in Hawke's Bay's first year singles tournament and is a distant relation of Olympic and world champion kayaker Lisa Carrington. "Lisa gets her good looks from me," he joked.

Friar, 68, is in his first year playing at Bowls Heretaunga after transferring from the Birkenhead club in Auckland.

"I'm back playing bowls after a 10-year break. I used to play golf and the way my bowls has been going lately I might be back on the golf course again soon."

"Your bowls might not have been up to your usual high standard recently but your work on the barbecue has been first class. Your security work around here is pretty good too," Walford joked while boosting Friar's confidence at the same time. The DJ Porteous Lawyers, Grant White Autobody Limited, and Lions Breweries-sponsored tournament caters for 16 teams which play two games of 25 ends each day. Tomorrow and Friday are qualifying days with the top eight teams competing for the Webber Shield on Saturday and Sunday and the second eight teams playing for the Hawera Cup. Last year's Webber Shield-winning composite team of Murray Glassey, Phillip Skoglund, Garry Allerby and Ian Mason won't be competing this year but Mason will fancy his chances of scoring a share of the $1175 first prize when he combines with Havelock North clubmates Graham Fulford, Steve Oliver and Greg Hodges.

Other Bay teams capable of making the top eight are those skipped by the Bowls Taradale pair of Bruce Ferrick and Barry Wakely and host club teams skipped by Paul Selby and Tony Terry. Fancied visiting skips include Steve Love and Terry Curtis of Manawatu. Gisborne's Murray Murton skipped the winning Hawera Cup team last year and has made no secret of the fact his four wants a top eight berth this week.