Champ of Champs Triples

21-22 May 2022

Heavy rain on Friday night hampered the Champ of Champs Triples, which meant on Saturday, the Men's section playing at Auckland Bowling Club moved to Kohimarama Bowls. On Sunday, all matches were transferred to Remuera Bowling Club. 

One thing the weather certainly didn't hamper was the competitive spirit between the clubs. As evident by the draws, there was going to be a 'whose who' of champion matchups from the 28 Men's and 17 Women's teams entered.  

By the time quarter-finals and then the semi-finals arrived, the in-form teams were emerging - St Heliers, Royal Oak, Carlton Cornwall, Balmoral for the Women and Grey Lynn, East Tamaki, Bridge Park and Howick for the Men. 

Women's Triples
Both Women's semi-finals were close matches, with all four teams fielding experienced bowlers. Catherin Bien, Sue Curran & Paula Kempthorne from St Heliers drew Carlton Cornwall's Karen Hema, Lisa Prideaux & Linda Ralph. St Heliers was steadily determined as they shaped their play to gain points. Both teams were neck-in-neck & time was running out. St Heliers was pipped by Carlton Cornwall, 17-16. 

The other semi-final was Royal Oak's Rima Strickland, Janine Young & Andrea Wilson competing against Balmoral's Chelsea Suddens, Tessa Farley & Linda Farley. Balmoral jumped to a 6-point lead in the first end. By the 9th end, it's 10-10. Balmoral nudged forward, but Royal Oak was hot on their heels. By the 18th end, Royal Oak scored two to win 16-15 and head into the Finals.

It's the Finals - Carlton Cornwall is matched up against Royal Oak. Royal Oak was first to score a three, and by the third end, Carlton Cornwall took the lead 8-4. Carlton progressively added to their tally during the remainder of the match. They won the title, 23-9. Congratulations Carlton Cornwall, well done Royal Oak.

Men's Triples
It was great to see smaller clubs make their way through to the semi-finals. Grey Lynn won over East Tamaki 17-15, and Bridge Park was beaten by Howick 13-17.

Howick's combination of Bryan Chapman, Neil Fisher & Garry Cotton was pitted against Grey Lynn's Mamae Taurua, Eddie Tutai & Vero Nootai. Howick, on paper, was the team to beat. They took hold of the match from the start. At the midway point, the 9th end, they led 11-2. By the 11th end, Grey Lynn picked up four. Howick's score stayed at 14 as Grey Lynn made a comeback, it was 13-14 by the 16th end. Howick scored four in the last end to win against a courageous Grey Lynn, 18-13. A great final, congratulations to both sides.

The new titleholders are eligible to represent the Auckland region at the National Champs in Naenae on 15-17 July.

Women's champions - Karen Hema, Lisa Prideaux & Linda Ralph from Carlton Cornwall
Runner-up (L) Mamae Taurua, Eddie Tutai, Vero Nootai from Grey Lynn, Winners (R) Bryan Chapman, Neil Fisher & Garry Cotton from Howick with Greame Scott from Auckland Bowls

1-5 Year Triples

21-22 May 2022

36 teams from 22 Auckland clubs entered this year's Triples championship, a good cross-section of clubs competing. There were a couple of clubs we haven't seen in a while - how great is that!

We did hear umpires say 1-5 Year players are eager, well-spirited & just get on with the game - that's what they did over the weekend, they got on with it!

Howick was well represented with five teams; Royal Oak, Kohimarama and St Heliers had three. It's encouraging to see so many 1-5s competing. The growth is a positive step forward for our sport.

We're down to the semi-finals with Pt Chevalier against Te Atatu and two Howick teams pitted against each other. This will make exciting viewing for the Finals Weekend on 4 June. Book the date in your calendar - the venue is to be confirmed.

Upcoming events

28-29 May – Champ of Champs Fours and 1-5 Year Singles
4-5 June – 1-5 Year Finals
11-12 June – 1-5 Year Fours
19 June – Auckland Bowls awards function                                   

From our clubs

Success on the competition green for Kohi

21 May 2022

Those who made it down to the club on Saturday were treated to a thrilling quarter-final between our own KBC team of Mark Compton, Charles Martin and Richard Fox playing the very competitive Bridge Park team  (let’s face it…they’re all very competitive: this is the Champ of Champs!)

We were leading with an ever-increasing margin on the board as the ends moved toward the 18-end limit. Spectators noted KBC's success was due to the teamwork – if one had a couple of bad ends, the other two pulled out all stops and made it work.  The 16th and 17th ends though, saw the competition edge up until there was just a margin of two leading into the final.  It was tense, especially at the changeover, with Bridge Park holding three.  Mark drew one saving shot, which brought the game to a draw.  They won the toss for the tie-breaker and gave the mat to us. Their lead, an Auckland rep, drew superbly, alongside the jack, and their second edged another bowl alongside, covering the head.  With just one bowl left, Mark opted for a weighted shot into the head, but missed by millimetres, giving Bridge Park the victory and entry into the semi-final.  This is the best KBC Men have performed in any CoC, and they certainly made the support crew very proud.  Well done guys.

A special thank you to each of our members who were able to come and help host the event at late notice, especially Jayne, Trevor and Mariaan (needless to say, we got to enjoy those delish bacon rolls).

Congratulations to our 1-5 teams who have moved through to post-section play on Sunday.  Yvonne Green, Bev Callingham, Sue Jerram and Lynley Pritchard, Fiona Matheson & Daphne Burrows. Both teams played for the title at Remuera on Sunday.

Article by Margie Sorensen, KBC Club Captain

The Howick Hammer

22 May 2022

Howick Bowling Club started the day with three competing teams, the Champ of Champs Men's Triples and a couple of 1-5 Year Triples.

First up were the 1-5 Year Triples teams in the bye round. We were amongst the few playing outside and not the umpteen playing inside. The wind came howling up Market Rd from the Antarctic together with the odd horizontal shower and swerved onto rink A3 where we were playing. We were up against New Lynn, again.  We played and lost to them first thing yesterday. Talk about the short straw. Anyway, we managed to ease past them. Eddie’s mob beat Kohimarama.

Second, we are all inside. The Champ of Champs team fired up against Bridge Park in their semi-final and won a tight game. We played Pringle Park. These guys are onto it, critical shot decisions are made by the whole team. Even the Lead chips in, this really got my attention. Leif Selby tells us that this is the way it is done in Straya. In Howick, Lead bowlers are issued with duct tape to be used on the mouth and then told to sit in the corner until called upon. It is a shame that Pringle Park is over 40 km from Howick.  The wheels started to fall off our wagon in this game and we rapidly fell well behind. Richard Ludbrook, our coach, pulled me aside and hissed through gritted teeth some short words to the effect that "I might like to try placing my first bowl behind the jack." Talk about a light bulb moment! This got our wheels back on and we got there, just. Eddie’s mob took out Blockhouse Bay.

Third. In the Champ of Champs Final, Howick beat Grey Lynn, this went out live on YouTube. The Howick Skip, Neil Fisher, is a guy who likes to get his foot on the throat of his opposition and keep it there. If he can’t do that he puts it on the throat of his teammates. Never mind Kevin Hickland, Neil should be miked up, the banter is priceless. Gary Cotton won his first centre title some 48 years ago! This trophy will sit nicely on the club mantlepiece with Les Brown’s Champ of Champs Singles trophy and the 1-5 Year Mercedes Cup.

In our quarter-final, we met one of the Te Atatu teams, in fact, the same team that we played third yesterday. Auckland Bowls’ random draw methodology would make interesting reading. We only just beat them yesterday and this felt like another short straw. However, we tore off to a 9–2 lead and then lost the next five ends. Talk about determination to lose a game. In the end, we ground out a hard win. Adam showed tremendous restraint and at Mike’s urging produced some wonderful draw shots. It all got too much for him and on the 17th end, he let rip. We managed to get the players on adjacent rinks to form a slip cordon so that all I had to do was pick up my bowls with a brush and shovel. Eddie’s mob defeated Carlton Cornwall. Carlton Cornwall? A 1-5 Year team from Carlton Cornwall, where have they been hiding?

Both of the Howick teams won their quarter-final. However, we meet in the semi-final as per the 1-5 Year Fours last year. Short straw?!  Howick Bowling Club ended the day with three unbeaten teams.  The icing on the cake was Bryan Chapman’s Gold Star for five Centre titles.

After having a beer, I tried to sneak out past Roz, the above is the result of that fail!

Some in our club think that our competition teams should be called the Howick Hammer, I just thought that I would raise the flag and see who saluted. 

Article by Shortstraw Sadgrove

Top: Shortstraw Sadgrove on the right with Mike Dickie & Doug Surmond
Bottom left: Champ of Champs Triples winners: Bryan Chapman, Neil Fisher & Garry Cotton
Bottom right: Eddie's mob: Eddie Jones, Graeme Thompson & Bruce Fenton

Club events