When Brian Baldwin's four had a comfortable victory in the second round of qualifying for the national championship yesterday, Bowls New Zealand heaved a sigh of relief.
In an innovation designed to give promising players exposure at the top level, the national body used a Sports Foundation grant tohave Baldwin and Peter Belliss, who are both based in Australia, skip specially selected fours.
Baldwin, who won the pairs when the nationals were last in Auckland, is playing with Sean O'Neill (Kia Toa), Ali Forsyth (Stoke) and Jamie Hill (Okahu Bay).
On the extremely slow Papatoetoe green they were beaten 15-17 in the first round by an East Tamaki combination skipped by Brian Hawkins. But they came back strongly in the afternoon to beat Athol Rose (Milford) 28-14.
Two wins today and they will be safely into post-section play.
Belliss, who is playing with Keith Rees-Gibbs (Hamilton City), Patrick Golder (Taradale) and Justin Goodwin (Warilla), won both his games comfortably.
Several prominent competitors need to win both their games today.
Petar Sain, the singles titleholder and fours winner in 1999, dropped his first game 4-24 to Pat Campbell (Rawhiti), whose four includes Danny O'Connor, winner of six national fours titles.
Veteran Ivan Kostanich (Helensville) also lost his first game, to Keith Gerrie (Mairangi), 12-24.
The Carlton four including Ivan and Wally Marsic have won only one game, but their second-game loss to a team skipped by Shane Sincock, of Belfast, ended in controversy.
Wally Marsic challenged the legality of the bowls being used by Sincock's No 2, Leo Leonard, of Kia Toa. The issue is now in the hands of the chief umpire, Ray Mallin.
Leonard is likely to be able to continue using the bowls for the duration of the tournament until they can be tested in Australia.
The match of the day yesterday was between Gary Lawson (Hornby Domain), winner in 1997, and Andre Smith (Havelock), who took the title in 1998. Lawson won 22-15.
The prize for persistence would go to Peter Robinson, of Henderson, who was 0-17 down against Trevor Foord (Carlton) and went on to win 28-23.
And Nelson bowlers Ron Robb and Russell Calder, who struggled to find Glen Eden on the first day, made it safely to Henderson and racked up a couple of wins.
