Next Monday sees the Centre Inter Club Sixes for 1-5 Year bowlers being played at the Kamo greens.
Ten teams have been entered from Kensington (2); Mangawhai Women (2); Kamo; Whangarei, One Tree Point, Mt Manaia, Arapohue, and Mangawhai Men.
The tournament is played as a side competition competing in singles, pairs and triples.
Latest reporting time is 8.30am with play starting at 8.45am.
The winners of this event will represent the Centre in the Regional Mercedes Cup tournament to be played at Hikurangi greens on May 6.
Forty-two teams took part in the Centre Open Mixed Pairs tournament last weekend.
Seventeen teams qualified by winning three or four games on the Saturday and competed at the Onerahi greens, with the final being rescheduled to Tuesday at 5.30pm.
Finalists were Diane Strawbridge and partner Bill Harris against and Dean McMurchy with partner Maureen Parker.
The beaten semifinalists were Dennis and Mary Brewster, and Gordon Bond and Christine Budge, last year's winner of the event.
Both finalists were from the Kensington Club, who are having great success in centre events this season.
The winners will join others by competing in the NZ finals to be played from March 10-20 in Dunedin.
A third centre title for the season was claimed by Diane Strawbridge when she combined with partner Bill Harris to win the Centre Mixed Pairs Final on Tuesday.
After five ends the score was close at 4-3 to the McMurchy-Parker combination.
Strawbridge then moved the jack when one down to score an impressive four.
They then scored on the next six ends to go out to a 13-4 lead. A three on the 10th end gave McMurchy the impetus to draw closer and two singles on the next ends brought them back to 14-9 down.
The 14th end saw the Strawbridge-Harris pairing holding three shots, when Harris changed his hand and unfortunately moved the jack back to where McMurchy had five shots waiting just behind the head.
With his next bowl he redeemed himself by reducing the deficit to one shot, Strawbridge then drew the shot.
With his second bowl McMurchy drove at the shot bowl, removing it cleanly, to score a three and make the difference in score two shots.
The 15th end saw Strawbridge score a single to go into the final end with a three shot advantage.
The end saw Strawbridge holding two shots until McMurchy hit the head with a drive when attempting to kill the end so that it could be replayed.
Unfortunately for him, he missed the jack, removing the shot bowls and scoring one point which was not enough to force an extra end.
Altogether it was an intriguing final which was enjoyed by a good crowd of spectators.
We are now accepting entries for the Centre Open Singles for men and the Centre Open Triples for women to be played at Onerahi, Mangawhai & Waipu on February 11-12. Entries close on Thursday, February 2. Enter by website, email or entry form from Centre handbook.
The following weekend will see the Junior Pairs for Men and Women (1 to 5 years) to be played on February 18-19 at Kensington and Kamo greens. Entries close on Thursday, February 9. For this event, if you do not have sufficient players in the 1-5 year bracket at your club, you may combine with a player from another club. Enter from the website, email or entry form in the hand book.
The Northand Women's Representative team to compete in Wellington in the NZ Inter Centre competition has been named.
The selector has stuck with the team that won the event last season and has named the following players:
Singles: Sue Wightman;
Pairs: Marny Jones, Leanne Stewart;
Fours: Diane Lawrence, Lauren Mills, Maree Attwood, Maureen Parker.
Reserve: Karen Horscroft.
The men's team has yet to be announced.