Bowls: Tournament's new rules add extra dimension

Dave Gunn sends down his bowl during the TigerTurf Winter League tournament at the Wanganui Bowling Club yesterday afternoon. Photo/Bevan Conley

The first winners out of the two TigerTurf Winter League Tournaments to be played in Wanganui were found on a brisk winter afternoon yesterday.

Bowls NZ's nationwide league is played on the all-weather artificial greens like the one at Wanganui Bowling Club, with 36 players showing up to compete in the pairs tournament as teams of three.

Regional Bowls NZ development officer Keith Slight said during proceedings yesterday that the entrants were getting used to thinking more tactically under the tournaments unique rules, which allow for player substitutions at any time and the right to exercise "power plays" for double points in a set.

"They've settled down now, and getting into the rhythm, and they're enjoying it."

However, one aspect that will need a bit of work before the second tournament on July 20 will be adhering to time limits, as a few teams took longer than the 30 seconds allowed to play each bowl.

Another tournament aspect that came into play was the use of shootouts to decide tied games, which made for very exciting semifinals as both matches required them.

The team of Ray Savage, Russell Haddock, and Les Murcott beat Grant Winterburn, Colin Lutrell and Colin Wright in their shootout after splitting the sets 8-9 9-5.

The other section winners Kevin Coombe, Ian Hatfield and Nathan Fletcher beat the best runner-up team of Ron Hutchison, Reeves Hunt and Dave Barton in their shootout after another split, 3-4 10-5.

In the final, Coombe's team were victorious over Savage 10-1 6-4. There was a $990 prize pool for the event.