KEY POINTS:
The day could come in the next year or two when one of New Zealand's greatest lawn bowlers, triple world champion Peter Belliss, lines up in transtasman tests wearing the gold and green of Australia.
Belliss, who has been a spectator at the world championships in Christchurch, confirmed
yesterday that after nearly 12 years living in Australia and so qualifying by residence, he was now eligible to play for Australia.
And, having been chosen for the New South Wales state side, for which he will make his debut against Australian Capital Territory early next month, he has had to formally make himself available for Australia selection.
"Part of the state selection criteria is to be available to play for Australia," he said, "but I don't think they'll be knocking on my door."
Even more so than New Zealand, Australia place an emphasis on youth and the average age of their squad in Christchurch has been below that of the Australian test cricket team.
Belliss opted out of international bowls in 2002 when, for the first time in more than 20 years, he was overlooked for the New Zealand squad.
He said the reasons for his retirement still applied. He didn't want to put the time and effort into training, and the travel and other commitments required to perform at that level, even though he regularly attended the gym and was still fit.
"There is no doubt the trend in bowls is for younger players and that's fair enough," he said. "I don't think many people would have made a debut for New South Wales at 56. But age shouldn't necessarily be the main factor. That should still be whether you can play well enough and it could be that selecting just on age has gone a little too far."
Belliss was chuffed by the success of an old adversary in Christchurch, Scotland's Willie Wood, whom he beat in the singles final at the 1984 world championships.
At 69, Wood, in the men's triples, had added yet another medal yesterday to his already impressive tally.
Now the bowls manager at the Cabramatta club near Sydney, Belliss was also delighted with the success of two of the players who have been in the club's pennant side, Gary Lawson and Russell Meyer. And as befits his new Australian loyalty, he was equally elated to watch another clubmate, Karen Murphy, skip the Australian women's four to their title on Friday.