Gwen Lawson on bowls: Kensington to represent Northland in National 1-5 Year Interclub Sixes

The Kensington team will represent Northland in the National 1-5 Year Interclub Sixes competition.

Two centre fixtures were completed this week and the first to the fore was the 1-5 Year Interclub Sixes competition played on Anniversary Day.

Eight club teams playing singles, pairs and triples took part. The winning combination was the team from Kensington who took out the event from Mangawhai in second place and the Ngunguru combination in third.

Well done to all clubs who took part, the competition was close and all players learnt a lot from the experience. Kensington will now represent the centre in the regional tournament to be played on May 7.

The semifinal and final of the Bowls3Five tournament was completed on Wednesday night.

In qualifying, two teams skipped by Carl Van Haaften and Diane Strawbridge both finished section play with equal win point, equal net sets scored and equal net shots scored.

The conditions of play for the event stated that if this happened, the teams concerned had to find a winner by "the toss of a coin".

The evening started off with Strawbridge winning the toss and going forward into the semifinals.

Semi one saw Hatea Eels (Strawbridge) play Parahaka Trackers (Ann Muir) and this was a very close match with one set each won and the result going down to a tie breaker which was finally won by the Muir combination.

In the second section Whangārei (Daniel Hood) played Kamo Keas (Paul Price). This match was won in straight sets by the Whangārei combination with Hood playing some outstanding shots to help the team success.

The final then came down to Parahaka Trackers versus the Whangārei combination. Parahaka Trackers took out the first comfortably with some outstanding bowls.

The second set was a close affair with one shot difference on the last end. Parahaka were holding shot to win the math in straight sets when Hood played the perfect shot to drag the jack back and score a four on their power play end (doubles their score) to win the set.

This then involved a tie breaker end to find a winner and Whangārei held on to two shots to win the match.

Team members were: Whangārei (Daniel Hood, Laurel Jones, David Hood); Parahaka Trackers (Ann Muir, Grant Bush, Grant Jones); Kamo Keas (Paul Price, Steve Smith, Karina Cooper); Hatea Eels (Diane Strawbridge, Lew Hill, John Hooson); Mill Crushers (Carl Van Haaften, Garry Seddon, Ellie VanHaaften).

Whangārei will represent the centre at the New Zealand final from May 6 to 9 , in Wellington.

Clubs are reminded that entries close today for the Men's Interclub Sevens to be played on February 12 and 13. Please forward a copy of the entry form to the events manager (gwen.northbowls@slingshot.co.nz) as well as the centre office. Entry forms were sent to clubs.

Entries also close today for the Women's Junior 1-5 year singles to be played on February 12 and 13. Please assist your junior bowlers to enter this event online or by email to the events manager.

Fixtures for this next week:
Saturday/Sunday – Club Champs; Māori Bowls.
Tuesday – Waipū MX Triples.
Wednesday - Maungatapere AC Triples.
Thursday – Kensington AC Triples; Ruawai MX Triples.
Saturday/Sunday Men's Interclub Sevens.