Bowls: Fairytale as Dawe beats a legend

Barry O'Brien,(L) Garth Smith,(C) and Elliot Flett (R) in action at the national championships. Photo / Otago Daily Times

It was a miracle bowl and a fairytale ending for Russell Dawe (Port Chalmers) when he drove the jack into the ditch and his bowl sat beside it.

He had beaten the legendary Gary Lawson.

The Port Chalmers pair of Dave Morris and Dawe had beaten defending champions Dan Delany (Onehunga) and Lawson (Eastbourne) 11-10 in section play of the pairs at the New Zealand bowls championships in Dunedin.

The scores were level 10-all after 15 of the 16 ends, and Lawson and Delany had three shots around the jack when Dawe played the first of his three bowls.

"I drew second shot and was one down on the head when I stepped up for my last bowl," Dawe said.

"I aimed for the kitty, hit it, and my bowl sat beside it in the ditch."

Dawe, 64, a bread merchandiser, has been playing bowls for 30 years and has won four Bowls Dunedin titles.

This win was the best of his career.

"It was the first time I've beaten one of the game's stars," he said.

His lead Dave Morris, a Port Chalmers painter, is only a fifth-year bowler and was playing in his first national championships.

He matched the more experienced Delany.

"When you play against players of this calibre you have to lift your game," Dawe said.

But there was no time to be complacent. Domestic chores still had to be done. "My wife told me to bring in the washing when I got home from bowls," he quipped.

The Port Chalmers pair won their three games on the Brighton green to qualify for post-section play.

They beat Wilson Moir and Malcolm van Rensburg (Cromwell) 15-8, Delany and Lawson 11-10 and Tom Sheppard and Neville Murdoch (Kaka Point) 17-13.

Lawson recovered from the shock loss to win his last two games and qualify for post-section play. He beat the Dunedin pair of Maurice and Steve Kannewischer 15-8, Brian Cavanagh and Peter Matheson (Taieri) 14-13 and Bob Warren and Ken Smeal (Andersons Bay) 17-3.

Former international and last year's runner-up in the singles, Ken Walker (Fairfield), was not so lucky and failed to qualify.

Walker beat Cavanagh and Matheson 18-11 but then lost to Warren and Smeal 18-10 and to Ray Martin and Richard Corry (Victoria, Wellington) 5-19 and failed to qualify.

Martin (21), a veteran of nine years of bowls, is a graduate from the New Zealand Institute of Sport in Wellington. He and Corry gained three wins and qualified.

The Southland pair of Roger Stevens (Winton Central) and Richard King (Drummond) qualified after a rather bizarre day.

Stevens (48), a beef and cattle farmer, has been playing bowls for only 18 months but proved he has the temperament for top bowls.

The pair won their first two games but came a cropper in their third game when beaten 26-0 by Canterbury international Shayne Sincock (Redcliffs) and Gary Ruane (Eastbourne).

It tested the temperament of the Southland pair to see how they would come back after such a thrashing.

"I enjoyed the game," Stevens said. "They played outstanding bowls and showed us how to play."

They won the vital fourth game against another Southland pair of Glenn Milne (Waihopai) and Stephen Lovett (Gore) 14-11.

Promising Auckland youngsters Greg Ruaporo (Blockhouse Bay) and Scott Cottrell (Onehunga) had three easy wins to qualify for the next round.

- Otago Daily Times