Happy New Year to the wider Bowls Auckland family! Congratulations to all those who competed over the holidays in the Jarden Open Mixed Pairs and/or Summerset Nationals and a special acknowledgment to Tony Grantham and Gary Lawson for being crowned National Men's Pairs Champions!

We are hitting the ground running in 2023 and are committed to continuing to improve the bowler’s experience. There are many exciting things happening including, but definitely not limited to:

• The introduction of the Bowl’s NZ-led digital platform BowlsHub Aotearoa for all Centre Events. We understand that with any change comes uncertainty, but we are confident that this addition will enhance the bowler’s experience, and we are here to support and guide everyone through the process. Make sure you register now!
• An exciting post-Christmas Centre Event calendar including Finals Day, Champ of Champs, and the recent change to run the Men’s and Women’s Triples concurrently over the weekend of 18 and 19 February.
• The Representative Programme heats up with plenty of opportunity for the Auckland Centre to beat the rest, kicking off this weekend in Mangawhai! 

Happy bowling!

- Dean Barlett, CEO Bowls Auckland

Summerset Nationals started the 2023 new year on 2-9 January with more than 400 bowlers from around NZ converging on multiple bowling clubs across Bowls North Harbour and Bowls Auckland. Congratulations to all the newly crowned champions.

We're giving Bowls NZ a big shout-out for running a hugely successful event, particularly as weather conditions mid-week disrupted play and the BNZ team implemented its rain plan to allow fixtures to continue. Your coverage and support were also top-notch, so thank you.

Click the following links:

• read all the news and match highlights
• get a recap of results and re-watch the live-streamed matches

Challenge Cup

14-15 January 2023

The Challenge Cup between Auckland Bowling Club and New Plymouth Bowling Club hasn't taken place for well over 100 years. 

"It's been far too long," said Auckland Bowling Club Patron and Life Member Greame Scott. "it was time to revive the tournament and reconnect with our friends in Taranaki, so we laid down the challenge last year and New Plymouth Bowling Club gladly accepted, which we were really excited about."

"The date was set for 14 & 15 January 2023. As NPBC was the last winner on record, the team from ABC would travel to New Plymouth to compete in the Cup. We had a really great weekend, NPBC was a fantastic host, and the sportsmanship and competitiveness were second to none."

Women's rep squads head north 

Bowls Auckland has two Women's teams competing at Mangawhai Bowling Club this coming Sunday in a Quadrangular series consisting of teams from Far North, Northland, Counties & Auckland. Our Auckland teams are:

Prem 1: 
Singles - Linda Ralph
Pairs - Paris Baker, Olivia Bloomfield (S)
Fours - Lisa Prideaux, Kimberley Hemingway, Catherine Bien, Ashleigh Jeffcoat (S)

Prem 2:
Singles - Philly Akaruru
Pairs - Jane Field, Janine Young (S)
Fours - Jenny Stockford, Pip Wilton, Linda Fenton, Estelle Hickey (S)
Team Managers - Bev Crowe & Alison Rennie 

We wish you well ladies and will look forward to good results.

Stewart Buttar Burnside Pairs

As part of the player development programme Bowls Auckland had two Pairs teams consisting of Jamie Hill and Mike Bradshaw & Ashleigh Jeffcoat and Karen Hema who travelled to Christchurch on 12-15 January to compete at the prestigious Stewart Buttar Burnside Bowling Club Pairs event.

Jamie & Mike breezed through the qualifying rounds and ended up third equal in the main round, an excellent performance from both players.

Ashleigh & Karen came up against some tough competition including the top Australian players Aaron Teys - they played their way into the third qualifying section unfortunately without success. Still, a great experience for them to play against extreme talent. 

Other Auckland players who also participated in that event included Aiden Takarua playing with Jeremy Brosnan from North Harbour and Mike Galloway playing with Andrew Kelly from Canterbury.

With Aiden & Jeremy coming out as winners of Division 3, well done Aiden & Jeremy, a great performance.  Mike and Andrew also went well just missing out on making the semi-final in Division 1.  Also competing was the young Counties player Adam Baillie who was defeated in the semi-final of Division 2, a great performance Adam.

Click here to view results and photos

- Alison Rennie

Photo of Karen Hema & Ashleigh Jeffcoat sourced from Burnside Bowling Club

Taranaki Fours

At a glance, you could mistake Taranaki for being a suburb of Auckland with so many Auckland bowlers and their supporters in the region this week!

The Taranaki Fours has a long history and is a favourite for bowlers from far and wide. The 118th Open Fours has attracted 182 Men's Fours entries, and the Women's Fours has 82. 

After eight rounds in 13 sections, we've counted nine Auckland teams who have qualified - good luck for post section.  

You can follow progress here... 

Carlton Cornwall's Grant Keats, Ted Walker, Barry Green & David Ball have qualified to post section.

Action at Howick

Visitors from Otahuhu Railway winners of Wednesday Triples on Wednesday 18 January

• Top - Kevin Beazley presented Men's Open Pairs trophy to winners Bryan Chapman & Garry Cotton on Sunday 15 January.  
• Below - Women's Open Pairs winners Linda Fenton & Shelley McCabe with Glennis Davey and Pauline Johnson
• Bottom - Club President Noeline pictured with Open Fours winners on Sunday 18 December

- Noeline Sadgrove