Bowls: Golden 10th expected to strike sparks with brass

Gary Lawson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It is a safe bet that Bowls New Zealand chief executive Kerry Clark did not lead the charge to congratulate Gary Lawson on winning his 10th national title at the Hutt Bowling Club yesterday.

The frosty relationship between Clark, Lawson and a number of other of New Zealand's best of the past 20 years including Peter Belliss, Rowan Brassey and Danny O'Connor is well-documented. Lawson's triumph yesterday would have done little for Clark's disposition.

In teaming with Auckland's Danny Delany and coming from 10-2 down after eight ends to beat Sean O'Neill and Lance Tasker 13-12, Lawson joined the late Nick Unkovich, another top performer who found little favour with the sport's hierarchy, in claiming a bar to go with his gold star as his sport's second 10-time winner.

Minutes after winning the title - 21 years after his first, in singles at the Pakuranga Bowling Club - Lawson said he was "pretty happy" and rated it as "probably the best of them all".

He then said he was under pressure in light of match-fixing allegations.

"There has been a bit of drama," admitted Lawson. "The best way to answer the critics was to come out and play."

Asked whether he was sticking by his decision not to play for New Zealand again, Lawson said his earlier call had been made on the "spur of the moment" and that, if wanted, he was still available for selection.

"They need to drop me, not the other way round," said Lawson, the 100th player to represent New Zealand. He added that he had had no contact with Clark at the nationals.

"I certainly didn't receive aChristmas card from him."

At the time of the allegations that the Lawson-skipped New Zealand four "threw their match with Thailand at August's Asia Pacific Championships in Kuala Lumpur", Clark said: "He [Lawson] has an opinion on most matters and could express them in a polite way, but generally does so in an antagonistic way. I hope one day Lawson can bowl for New Zealand again. But he needs to look at himself in the mirror first."

But Lawson, who said he expects a decision on the match-fixing allegations early next week after it was initially thought the matter would be resolved before Christmas, said that he was not unduly concerned by Clark's snub.

"I prefer to listen to people like Phil Skoglund, a player I rate among the legends of our game, who said he was 100 per cent behind me. I would rather be judged by my peers.

"Too many top players have been forced out of the game. Rowan Brassey and Danny O'Connor are among our very best but were constantly having to battle officialdom. Peter Belliss should still be playing internationally.

"I never played against a better number three than Danny O'Connor but he was largely ignored by the selectors. He was a great reader of the game - a superstar."

Ironically, Lawson yesterday admitted Unkovich played a big part in helping equal his great record.

"Back in the early 90s I pestered him for a year to let me go to his house and question him about how he had won so many fours titles," said Lawson.

"He taught me what was required in picking a fours team."

He listened and went on to skip five winning fours including one over an Unkovich-skipped team.

Lawson has age on his side as he looks to further stretch his list of national titles.

Whereas he won his 10th title at a sprightly 45 years, Unkovich, who died in 2005, was 49 when he won his first, in fours, at the 1971 nationals. He was 69 when he won his last - the pairs, ironically at the Hutt Bowling Club, with Ross Haresnape in 1991.

The women's pairs title was won by New Lynn's Reen Stratford and Bev Crowe who beat Omanu's Bev White and Josephine Connolly 17-14.

For Crowe, the win was the Cornwall Bowling club member's second national pairs title, her first coming in in 2008 with Jo Babich.

They led 13-12 after 14 ends, and in the close it was Crowe's consistent leading and strong support play by Stratford that saw them through.

* Terry Maddaford was the Herald's bowls correspondent for more than a decade and saw Lawson win his first national title and Unkovich his last in a golden era for the sport in New Zealand.