Strong day 2 earns Poverty Bay-East Coast bowlers Memorial Cup

Poverty Bay-East Coast indoor bowling representatives with the Bill Moore Memorial and Sunshine cups. Back (from left): Keith Setter, Coralie Campbell-Whitehead (manager), Dylan Foster and Malcolm Trowell. Middle: Bryan Pulley, Andrew Rickard, Jay Casey, Mike Foster, Doc Tipene and Adam Rickard. Front: Warren Gibb, Lois Lamont, David Lynn, Kayla Foster, Sean Haskins and Jakeb Te Kani Brown. Photo / Karyn Foster

Poverty Bay-East Coast indoor bowlers had a successful conclusion to a weekend of close matches.

Last Sunday, the second day of a competitive foray on to Bay of Plenty mats, PBEC contested the Bill Moore Memorial Cup in Whakatāne.

They were up against representative teams from Rotorua, Whakatāne and Thames Valley.

Determined to improve on a disappointng first-day effort, PBEC started strongly, scoring 55 of a possible 80 points in the first three rounds (one round of fours and two rounds of singles).

After the following two rounds of pairs PBEC led, on 79 points, with Thames Valley second, on 73.

In the final round of fours, Poverty Bay secured only a draw, for two points, while Thames Valley had two wins, for eight points. That left both teams on 81 points and the result had to be decided on a countback of scores.

By this measure, Poverty Bay won the competition, having achieved scores totalling 457 to Thames Valley’s 446.

Whakatāne finished third, on 72.5 points, followed by Rotorua on 53.5 points.

As well, Poverty Bay-East Coast retained the Sunshine Trophy with a 35-13 win against Whakatāne.

Top scorers for the day were Dylan Foster and Sean Haskins with five wins from six games, David Lynn on 4.5 wins and Lois Lamont and Kayla Trowell on four wins.

The day before, PBEC contested the Hone Trophy in Mt Maunganui against Tauranga, Thames Valley and King Country.

Tauranga won the event decisively, with six match points, King Country finished second on three, Thames Valley were third on two and PBEC were fourth on one.

In Poverty Bay-East Coast’s Friendship Cup match against King Country at this event, both teams scored 36 points. It was the first time this fixture had ended in a draw.

Top PBEC scorer for the day was David Lynn with 7.5 wins, followed by Malcolm Trowell with six wins, Doc Tipene with 5.5 wins, and Jakeb Te Kani Brown with five wins on his representative debut – a great effort.