Indoor Bowls: Northland fall short in Geyserland Trophy retention

The latest in indoor bowls news. Photo / Stuart Munroe

Northland put in a strong effort to try to retain their Geyserland Trophy title but were pipped at the post by Rotorua.

The team of 16 representatives travelled to Pukekohe Cosmopolitan Club to defend the trophy against challenging teams from Rotorua, Counties and North Harbour.

This is an annual competition which Northland was invited to join for the first time in 2017. And with the trophy on display in the Northland cabinet from that encounter the team were determined to keep it there.

After a day of intense match-ups between players from all teams Northland was narrowly defeated by the Rotorua team, the winning margin being only five points.

The top Northland point scorers on the day (out of a possible 18 points) were Chris Watson (Kerikeri) on 14, John Colman (Whangarei) on 11, Kia Ward (Whangarei) on 11 and Lyn Nisbet (Whangarei) on 11.

The overall results were Rotorua 91, Northland 86, North Harbour 80 and Counties 79 points.

The difference of only 12 points between the teams shows how closely matched the regions were and how intense the play was with a lot of very tired bowlers at the end of the day.

Meanwhile the New Zealand mixed pairs played at the Badminton Centre at Toe Toe Rd, Whangarei.

A very strong field of 14 teams played four qualifying rounds followed by semifinals and finals to find the winning team to go on to the national mixed pairs competition in Auckland.

The qualifiers were Judy Bethel and Michael Riceman, Don Simpson and Kia Ward, Noel and Rae Bailey, Doreen Christiansen and Leicester Budd, and Arthur and Marie Tan.

The winners were the husband and wife team of Noel and Rae Bailey who defeated the veteran pair of Don Simpson and Kia Ward in an enthralling final.