PBA BOWLS: Ashton's single focus

Rob Ashton's employers will find it hard to accuse him of too much play and no work or vice-versa.
That's because the sales representative from Wellington does business with pleasure, marketing bowls gear whenever he leaves the capital city for tournaments around the country.
Yesterday was no exception as the Johnsonville Bowling Club member beat Hawke's Bay's George Ngametua 8-2, 6-7, 2-0 in the final of the New Zealand Professional Bowls Association (PBA) International Open Singles Qualifiers at Bowls Heretaunga.
``I co-ordinate those [playing and work] together but sometimes I don't get customers so I just catch up with some old mates,'' he told SportToday last night, soon after returning home having dropped off fellow bowls player Ray Boffa in Waikanae.
Ashton now returns to Bowls Heretaunga on September 5-6 for the finals against Aucklander Steve Cox, Waikato's Raika Gregory and Dunedin's Ross Brown, all who qualified yesterday in the other three venues of Pukekohe Cosmopolitan Club, Frankton Railway Bowling Club (Hamilton) and Dunedin Bowls Stadium, respectively.
The winner of the finals will receive tickets to lucrative PBA tourneys in Scotland and Wales.
``I've got a bite at three cherries by making the last four but I've really got to step up in September,'' Ashton said.
The Englishman, who missed out on a trip to England after losing in the finals in Dunedin, has had a dream year.
Early this year he won the national pairs title with Boffa and three days later sent Gary Lawson packing in the national fours.
A former semi-professional soccer player who arrived in New Zealand from Manchester in the mid-1980s, Ashton is thriving on that mental fortitude with his 23rd year in bowling.
A tinge of regret was obvious in the voice of the former New Zealand squad member when he disclosed he had missed the flight to the World Championship in South Africa and the Transtasman Test Series, reconciling it with new faces and selectors coming through.
``I'm still out there making a statement. The selectors have a tough job to do but they know what I can achieve.''
Nailing 28 Wellington centre titles, behind former national rep Judy Howat (31 titles), is a source of pride and joy for him. ``It's the highest number for a male and only Judy has more than me. We meet up quite regularly and have a chat about it,'' he explained, adding Eddie Irvine, who has moved to Bay of Plenty, had 20 titles but faced a difficult task of catching him considering he didn't live in Wellington any more.
``I'm thrilled to bits and I'm a force to be reckoned with,'' he said with a laugh.
All Ashton wants now is for Bay bowls fans to turn out in droves to support him in the September finals.
``It'll be magnificent bowls with top-class players and worthwhile watching.''
Ashton praised Ngametua's challenge yesterday, saying he was fortunate enough to come away with his second PBA win of the season.
The host player had Ashton reaching for the worry beads when he picked up a three on the final end of the second set to force the match into a tie-break.
But the Silver Ferns freezing works employee's heavy hand proved costly.
``I was pushed too wide and moved the kitty to his bowl and lost the game,'' said Ngametua who lost to national rep Jamie Hill in 2005 at Heretaunga club.
In the last PBA round, he bowed out in the semifinals.
The former Celtics rugby player, who promised his dying wife Adrienne he wouldn't give up playing the sport, rose to prominence and eventually made the cut into the Bay rep squads.
He has since met ``a lovely Englishwoman, Susan, who doesn't play bowls'' and they are married.
Conceding Ashton had ``a little bit more than me'', Ngametua said he needed to practise more.
``Mate, it's everyone's dream to go there [Britain].''
He thanked his sponsors, Kool's Chicken and Chips, and Lantern Light Dairy, for their support.
Another PBA tourney at Franklin Railway Club beckons but Ngametua is still weighing up his options.
``There's the cost and all the guns will be there and I'll have only one chance.
``I'll think about it.''