1-5 Year rep quad challenge

1 October 2022

On Saturday, 1 October, 1-5 Year rep teams from North Harbour, Northland and Bay of Plenty travelled to Auckland for the first rep event of the season. 

The forecasted bad weather meant a late move to play undercover at Remuera and New Lynn. Thanks must go to these two clubs for making their greens available.

The Auckland Men's team at New Lynn started strongly, sweeping Northland in all three games in the first round. This continued with another clean sweep of North Harbour in the second round, effectively securing the overall win. 

A strong performance from Bay of Plenty in the last round saw a couple of close losses for Auckland, but they still finished comfortably in front by two extra wins. North Harbour nosed out Bay of Play for second place.

With five experienced players missing from last season, it was good to see our relatively inexperienced Women's team start with a win and two losses against North Harbour. North Harbour will face a similar situation next year as several of their 5th-year players drop out. 

A 2-1 win over Bay of Plenty in the second round gave Auckland a good shot for second place. However, we went down 2-1 to Northland in the last for North Harbour to take the final result.  Auckland Men - winners and Auckland Women - third.

It was a great competition. Our next 1-5 Year rep event is the Battle of the Bridge in early December.

Contributed by Peter Blucher

Premier rep quad challenge

2 October 2022

Women's Premier

Bowls Auckland Women’s Premier 1 & 2 teams had an excellent warm-up for the start of the representative season ahead, with Premier 1 playing undercover at Remuera against Northland, North Harbour and Bay of Plenty, on Sunday 2 October.

Our Prem 1 Singles player, Linda Ralph, performed very consistently to win her three matches. Lisa Prideaux leading with Ashleigh Jeffcoat skipping the Pairs, had a draw, a win & a loss. The Fours team of Karen Hema, Rima Strickland, Estelle Hickey and Aggie Motu - in the first game - then Jaime Delaney in the next two games, improved as the day went along, just dropping their games by small margins.  

Overall the Prem 1 team came second to North Harbour, with a solid performance.

The rain was the only disappointment of the day, but that did not stop our Prem 2 team playing on the outside green from performing really well, ending the day in 1st position.

Kimberley Hemingway went through her three Singles games unbeaten - she played very consistent bowls all day. The Pairs combo of Jenny Stockford leading with Lesley McLinden skipping won their first two games convincingly, then dropped their third game by a small margin.

The Fours, skipped by Catherine Bien, struggled in the first half of their first game - then flew ahead to take the win. The team, including Judy Raill, Janine Young & Sue Curran, along with Aggie Motu who played the final game, dropped the next two games, once again by small margins.

Congratulations ladies on your great results.

Men's Premier

Although Sunday was a wet and windy day at Manly Bowling Club, our host club had two great artificial greens playing fast and wide.
 
Our Men’s Premier 1 team was in front throughout the entire day.  Singles player, Mike Galloway was in fine form, winning his three games convincingly. The strong Pairs team of Tony Grantham and Jamie Hill played exceptionally well, complimenting each other's play - they also won their three games. The Fours combination of Nick Thompson, Martin Dixon, Aiden Takarua & Adam Wishnoski had one very good win and two very narrow losses on a testing day - the competition no doubt has strengthened this team's combination.  The squad improved as the day proceeded and will be in top form for the upcoming Bowls NZ Intercentre finals in two weeks at Browns Bay.
 
Our Men’s Premier 2 team generally had some good competitive games and were second equal in-game points with North Harbour. Scott Harrison playing the Singles had a successful day with two wins and one close but unlucky loss. The Pairs of Teo Turua and Mike Bradshaw played consistently, with a well-deserved two wins. The Fours combination tried hard all day, but they couldn't consolidate at critical times. The experience gained by those players will improve their play in future fixtures.
 
The overall result showed Bay of Plenty winning by 1 point from Auckland in second, North Harbour placed third, and Northland fourth.
 
Congratulations to all the teams involved on the day, it was a great quadrangular challenge.  Thanks also to the host clubs and their volunteers and thanks also to the officials.

Contributed by Alison Rennie, John Ross & Neville Hill. Men's Premier images unavailable.

President's hit the green

2 October 2022

The anticipation that President's Day would proceed became a hot topic of conversation in the lead-up - the forecasted awful weather and green availability did cast doubt! 

35 teams had indicated their attendance. But on game day, with two late withdrawals and a gesture from the Bowls Auckland team agreeing to not play 32 teams looking splendid in club colours, split into two pools, each pool playing two games alternately.

The forecasters got it right on Saturday with torrential rain. Sunday morning dawned sunny and bright. Auckland Bowling Club's new artificial green was officially opened, and the bowls began. When Pool A began its second game, it started to drizzle, and it continued to drizzle during Pool B’s second game. Lunch was a welcome relief!

The decision not to play bowls after lunch proved a winner as the rain continued. The scorecards were tallied, and prizes were awarded to Pakuranga, Central, Royal Oak and New Lynn.

Congratulations to Auckland Bowling Club on their new carpet. A special thanks to Nenad for all his hard work to keep the event on target. Thanks also to all the clubs whose spirit of friendly yet competitive rivalry made Sunday an enjoyable success.

Upcoming events

8 Oct – 1-5 Year Fours Finals 
15-16 Oct – National Intercentre
22-23 Oct – Open Women’s Prem Singles
26 Oct –  Secondary School Pairs
27 Oct  – Bowls 3Five 1-5 Year
29 Oct – Interclub & Half Day 6s

Centre events

Last chance to get entries into these three events closing on 9 October...

Club news

Epsom-Carlton interclub roll-up challenge

4 October 2022

During winter, from May to September, Carlton Cornwall's roll-up brigade plays their Tuesday games at Epsom Bowls. The nature of club roll-ups means the two clubs do not mix. That is until Epsom laid down a challenge to CCB. Challenge accepted, Llew Tritt from CCB and Roger Sutton from Epsom agreed on the conditions of play and eligibility of players.

With all players making some compromises to their normal roll-up traditions, the inaugural challenge was held on Tuesday. Both clubs had six Triples teams and played over two games of 10 ends. 

After game 1, CCB led, 3½ to 2½. Nerves were strained for the second match. Some superb leading from CCB’s Arthur Bradley saw his team snare a win. A tactical swap of positions saw Noel Aitken take over as skip, with Llew Tritt playing at #2, resulting in another CCB win. Long-time bowler and past Bowls NZ president Jeanette Sinclair showed she has maintained her form over the winter, helping her team to a win.

When the final results were tallied, CCB had 7½ wins to 4½ wins to Epsom. CCB has issued a Christmas roll-up challenge to Epsom to be played on grass at CCB.

The intention is to make these challenges annual events, thus meeting the strategic vision of fostering friendly rivalry and better cooperation between neighbouring clubs.

Contributed by Jess MacKinven, video courtesy Epsom Bowls

Club events