Golden smiles

It was nothing but golden smiles all around for these BlackJacks at Birmingham, and rightly so - they are bringing home three bronze medals.

Val Smith and her teammates Tayla Bruce and Nicole Toomey claimed their second medal in the Women's Triples, having already secured bronze with Selena Goddard for the Women's Fours. Then... Katelyn Inch and Selena added to the bowls tally by collecting a bronze for their Pairs win.

It has been a great achievement for lawn bowls & didn't the Kiwi athletes have a superb result at the Games. Well done to the NZ team.

Image source Bowls NZ

Rohe Challenge

6-7 August 2022

Last weekend, Bowls Hastings hosted the annual Rohe Challenge, where 10 men's and eight women's teams from around the motu competed. The annual Rohe Challenge marks the start of the new bowling season for everyone selected to represent their respective rohe (region).

It's a great tournament to play in and a chance to meet up with old friends, make some new ones, and battle it out on the green against some very tough competition.

This year, congratulations to Bowls Kahungunu for taking out the Tāne taonga. Our Tāmaki Makaurau Wāhine were blown away by uncle Trevor, aged 80, who skipped his rohe to win. We hope we get to see him at Aotearoa Bowls next year.

A huge congratulations to Tāmaki Makaurau for winning the Wāhine section. They did not drop a single game all weekend with 7 out of 7, which is a great achievement. Going into the last round Tāmaki Makaurau and Waiariki were unbeaten. It was game on!  After the third end, Tāmaki Makaurau found themselves on the board, 2-4 behind. On the fourth end, they picked up a 7 putting them comfortably in the lead. It's six ends still to play. Waiariki started to claw their way back in the next two ends - Tāmaki Makaruau was able to hold them off to win, 14-6. With a slight injury to Skip Karen H ema - what a trooper, she still managed to add to the count on one leg. We hope it's only a minor injury!

Tāmaki Makaurau Tāne, with new young blood on their side, David Motu and Adam Blucher, steered alongside Barry Aspin and Peter Blucher. They got off to a good start winning their first game, but there was still some fierce competition to come. At the end of day one, the Tāmaki Makarau was sitting in second place overall. They had two games to play, winning the first against Taranaki and in their last against Whānganui-a-Tara. They were 9-9 with one end to go, only to be pipped at the post. 

The Auckland men came away with three and a half wins. Despite the outcome, Tāmaki Makaurau is still proud of its efforts.

Congratulations to Bowls Waiariki Wāhine and Tāne, whose combined efforts won the overall Matariki Toanga. 

A huge thanks to Bowls Hastings for a great weekend of bowls held in great spirits and superb hospitality.

Top - Rohe Wāhine winners: Tāmaki Makaurau's Karen Hema, Aggie Motu, Lisa Prideaux, Doreen Jensen
Bottom - Rohe Wāhine winners with the Tāne team: Adam Blucher, Peter Blucher, Barry Aspin, David Motu

Contributed by Aggie Motu and Michael Staite, The Staite of Bowls

Molly Mortimer Trophy

7 August 2022

Sometimes you need to shout for an umpire, but that was not the case last Sunday at Remuera Bowls when Auckland Umpires hosted North Harbour Umpires for the annual Molly Mortimer challenge. 

Four teams of Triples squared off over two rounds of 10 ends in a winner takes all scenario based on shots scored. Conditions of Play stipulated if there was a draw, the trophy would remain with the holder.

We all know that bowls is a cruel sport - there is no forgiveness; just ask my daughter. In a recent match at Taieri, her side scored 15 shots, 12 nearly's and five close ones against 16 shots, seven nearly's and nine close ones. But, I digress, back to the match. 

After the first round, North Harbour lead Auckland 43- 41. The second round was also a close affair, with the first team to finish Auckland, having a 10+ advantage. The next two games were also tight - the differential was too close to call. Ultimately it all hinged on the last bowl of the last match.  By a whisker, the Skip missed! The final score was North Harbour defeated Auckland, 80-76.

The Molly Mortimer trophy was donated by Fay Chapman and Jean Ashby, named in honour of their mother, Jean a prolific bowler and umpire. Jean is a Life Member of Bowls New Zealand and remains a stalwart of the North Harbour Umpires Association, where at 88, she still gets out and about on the greens with her tape and law book. Jean was in attendance on Sunday but couldn't stay for the prizegiving.

Contributed by Gerard Hulst

Sue Curran studies the shot options

Presidential showdown.  Gerard Hulst (AK) congratulates Jenny Daniels (NH) on NH Umpires retaining the Molly Mortimer Trophy.

NZ PBA Singles and Pairs qualifiers

6-7 August 2022

Auckland's regional NZ PBA Singles and Pairs qualifiers were held at Remuera Bowling Club last weekend, 6-7 August, where all games were knockout.

Singles
In the semi-final, Colin Rogan upset Nick Thompson in a 2-1 tiebreak. On the other side of the draw, Bart Robertson beat Neil Fisher by one set and one draw. In the Final, Colin Rogan dominated the first set and it looked like Bart was going to dominate the second set being 9-1 up with three ends to go. However, Colin played some great bowls to draw the set and win the final.

Pairs
Garry Cotter and Nick Thompson (pictured below) fought through some very tough, close-scoring matches in a ruthless format to win the Pairs Qualifier.

The Pairs and Singles winners will compete in the NZ PBA Finals weekend held in Wellington on 2-4 September against four other NZ regions winners. If successful in winning that, they would progress to the World's held in the UK.

Contributed by Bart Robertson

Upcoming events

13-14 Aug – ABCA Canoe & Campi
20 Aug – ABCA Cup
3-4 Sep – 1-5 Year Fours
10-11 Sep – 1-5 Year Pairs
17-18 Sep – 1-5 Year Triples
24-25 Sep – 1-5 Year Singles

Central Zone Winter Coaching

6 August 2022

Last Saturday was our eighth session of Winter Coaching for the 1-5s for Central Zone at Epsom Bowling Club. It was also our last one this season before competing in the Canoe and Campi Cups on 13-14 August against players from the other five zones. The ABCA Cup is next on the calendar, played on 20 August. 

It was great to see around 55 players turn up regularly to undergo training. Ten coaches were there during the sessions to give their guidance and support.  

Players started the session with warm-ups in very cold and foggy conditions. It was quite difficult to see the other end of the rink. It showed how committed and enthusiastic the 1-5s were.  
 

Contributed by Weng Lim

How times change

I was looking through some old books at Carlton Cornwall and came across The New Zealand Bowlers Annual, 1906-07. Whilst the book heavily favours South Island clubs, my own Carlton gets a good mention as does, Auckland, Devonport, Epsom, Mt Eden, Mt Albert, Ponsonby, Onehunga, and Remuera. Allow me the indulgence to discuss one aspect of the book!

The New Zealand International Exhibition of 1906 will always be linked in the minds of bowlers with the visit of the first New Zealand bowling team to Australia.

It was generally thought that there would be difficulty in raising more than four rinks (16 players in today’s terminology) but as the time of departure drew near the applications for inclusion in the team were so numerous that it was impossible to entertain them all - the strength of the team having to be limited to forty. The team was officially known as the “All Whites” and departed New Zealand on 5 October and arrived back on 21 November. Between 12 October and 16 November (37 days), the team played 26 different organisations, either clubs or state sides stretching from Brisbane to Tasmania. All matches were based on total aggregate shots. The All Whites won 19 and lost seven. The match against South Brisbane was won by two shots and the match against Sydney, City Green was lost by one shot. It is interesting that the game played on 26 October is recorded as being played against Albert Park, by electric light.

Contributed by Gerard Hulst.  Image sourced from National Library

Club events