Bowls: Attwood and Horscroft take title

Gwen Lawson rounds up bowling news.

By Gwen Lawson

The Centre Open Championship Pairs concluded at Kensington greens last weekend.

For the women 26 teams took part and the match committee dream results was that eight teams qualified.

The final was a contest between two Kensington Club teams and it is congratulations to Maree Attwood and Karen Horscroft who defeated Pam Arbon and Linda Brockbank 22-19.

To reach the final the Attwood-Horscroft pairing had to come from behind in every match to win the event. The Arbon-Brockbank combination was in front in the final half-way through the 18 ends.

They then sat on 14 for 7 ends while Attwood finally took the lead with three ends to play.

Arbon scored on the 17th end to go into the final end requiring two shots to draw the match. It was not to be however, with Attwood scoring one shot and taking out the event.
In the men's division 32 teams took part and nine teams qualified.

The defending champions Gordon Bond and Dean McMurchy were beaten in the first round by Gary Herbert and Junior bowler Roy Taylor.

Congratulations to Dusty Reader and Steve Smith (Whangarei) who defeated Ian McMurchy and Graham Gallant (Kensington) in a tense final.

With the first end of the final being killed by Reader on two occasions, it was more than 15 minutes before the first end was completed and the scoring shot recorded on the board. Consistency from the Whangarei skip was the difference in this match.

The ends were evenly distributed between both teams but a four scored on one end by the Whangarei combination was the difference at the end of the match.

This weekend sees the Junior (1-5 year) pairs being contested. The entries for this event have been disappointing and the event will therefore be run as a one-day tournament.

Latest reporting time is 8.30am and play starts at 8.45am at Kensington Greens. Teams entered are:

Women (Skips) - S. Rokstad, J. McKenzie, H. Donaldson, R. Brewster, C. Neeley, A. Greenwood, S. Ayerst, S. Egerton.
Men (Skips) - R. Naera, J. Cooper, G. Wintle, J. O'Neil, P. Price, J. Colvine, M. Curran, T. Holt, D. Williams.

Conditions of play have been forwarded to all clubs.

Reminder - Entries close on November 9 for the Men's Centre Open Triples and the Women's Centre Open Fours. This event will be played on November 18-19 and will be followed by the Open Singles for men and Open Triples for women on November 25-26.

Club tournaments scheduled for next week are: 4/5 November Onerahi Men's Triples; 7th November Waipu AC Triples; 8th Maungatapere AC Triples; 9th Dargaville Mx Triples; 10th Whangarei AC Triples 4.30pm, 11/12 Mangawhai Men's Fours.