Friday Flash 10 March 2023

National Interclub 7s

4 & 5 March 2023
Howick Bowling Club was the hub of its local community on Sunday. Kids were giggling as they zoomed up & down at the new scooter track next to C green, a local band was in the middle of practice in the Nixon Park Community Hall, and locals ambling through walking their dogs – all alongside National Interclub 7s Finals Day.

The greens were a sea of blue on Finals Day, a favourite hue for many club shirts… with a peppering of the familiar green, gold & black, white & maroon! 441 bowlers from 63 teams playing at 11 greens were whittled down to 17 teams.

Auckland Cup Any Combination
Quarter-finalists Blockhouse Bay Bluebells and Howick Green teams comprised of women – the Bluebells had two wins against Howick Green to progress to the Finals. The Bluebells meet the other Blockhouse Bay team, the Bears – who was a side of men! A battle of wit and skill ensued. It was an 18-18 draw in the Singles but with wins in Pairs & Fours, favoured the Bears - they won the 2023 Auckland Cup.

It was great to see teams from East Tamaki and Glendowie showing their merit by qualifying for post section - keep on entering competitions!

Auckland Cup AC winners: Blockhouse Bay Bears - Glen Rich (Singles), Doug McNamara, Tony Holdsworth (Pairs), Daniel Geaney, John Geaney, Alan Blackman, Neil Prendiville (Fours)

Women's Open
St Heliers, Te Atatu, Royal Oak & Carlton Cornwall are regular contenders in the Women’s fixtures – each club field formidable sides with abundant titles as evidence of their ability. Sunday’s Finals matchups would be no different.

St Heliers reigned over Te Atatu in the Pairs 20-15, and the Fours 17-8 in semi-final 1 to move to the Finals.

Semi-final 2 was a tight battle in all three disciplines between Royal Oak Athena and Carlton Cornwall. The match winner was not determined until the last end in the Fours. A valiant effort by the ladies from Royal Oak, on this occasion it would be Carlton Cornwall progressing to the Final.

The Final between St Heliers and Carlton Cornwall was another tooth-and-nail battle. While St Heliers had the Singles under their belt, 21-1, the Pairs and Fours got the hearts racing. Carlton Cornwall snaffled the Pairs 19-16 to keep both teams' hopes alive. St Heliers’ resolve edged out Carlton Cornwall, 13-10 in the Fours. It was so close – St Heliers is crowned 2023 Women’s Open Interclub 7s champions.

Women's winners: St Heliers - Titia Ryder (Singles), Sue Curran, Paula Kempthorne (Pairs), Catherine Bien, Joy Spence, Angela Longley, Ling Qu (Fours)

Men's Open
There was plenty of talent, the who's who of bowls in the Men’s Open post section on Sunday.

Ellerslie Bowls was elated - a combination of youth and experience worked well, and both of their teams qualified to post section. Their Broncos side defeated Bridge Park across all three disciplines in the quarterfinals to win a semi-final spot.

Mt Albert Lions are proving to be fierce competitors - they defeated Ellerslie Eagles to be matched against Auckland Originals in another semi-final. Pt Chevalier Pirates proved too strong for Te Atatu to secure their semi-spot – they would compete against Ellerslie Broncos to fill the final semi-spot.

Both Pt Chevalier and Auckland Originals delivered skilful matches to progress to the Finals. A betting person would be difficult to know who to put their money on!

Auckland Original's Nick Botica said, “their combination struggled a bit in the beginning. A reshuffle suggested by Neville had the side working much better.” It worked! Pt Chevalier Pirates were down for the count in all three disciplines; 21-18, 17-12 & 14-8.

The quote of the day was by Neville Hill, "there's plenty of bowls left in these ole bones."

Congratulations, Auckland Originals 1, you are the 2023 Men’s Open Interclub 7s champions.

Men's winners: Auckland Originals 1 - Jamie Hill (Singles), Phil Robottom, Leif Selby (Pairs), Glenn Newton, Bevan Beckham, Nick Botica, Neville Hill (Fours)

National Intercentre squad named

Bowls Auckland is pleased to name its representative's selected squads for the 2023 National Intercentre on 16-19 March in Canterbury.

This tournament brings together 20 regional centres competing in Singles, Pairs & Fours disciplines.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW SQUADS

Open Bowls3Five Interclub Finals

7 March 2023
The top eight Bowls 3Five Open qualifiers; Auckland Originals 1, Te Atatu TAT A3, Mt Albert Lions, Carlton Cornwall Gold, Te Atatu TAT Roosters, Onehunga & Districts M-J-M, Onehunga & Districts W-D-M and Glen Eden Phoenix gathered at Auckland Bowling Club on a warm Tuesday evening. The Finals started with a live draw to determine who would play who.

Host club hopes were on their qualifiers & 2022 champions. Auckland Originals 1 lineup of Jamie Hill, Gloria Teinaki and Bevan Beckham started strong against Adam Blucher, Lauren Mills and Andy Ellis from Te Atatu TAT A3, taking set one, 7-3. Te Atatu fought back taking set two, 2-10 and then secured the crucial tie-break to progress to the semi-final.

Onehunga & Districts had two teams qualify, securing quarter-final wins to meet each other in one of the semi-finals. M-J-M (Mike Bradshaw, Jaime Delany & Matt Carroll) and their club opponent W-D-M (Wayne Motu, Doreen Jensen & Mel Sam) had a tight battle, each side winning a set: 4-3, 3-4. W-D-M prevailed taking the tie-break to qualify for the Final.

In the other semi-final, Te Atatu TAT A3 had found their rhythm, winning the two sets 9-2, 7-1 to defeat Glen Eden’s Christina, Sean, and Jennifer Doran.

A more youthful Te Atatu side would meet a mature wily O&D side in the Final – proof that this sport is for all ages. Both teams displayed skillful, considered, competitive, and entertaining bowls. Te Atatu were the victors in a tightly fought battle, to be crowned 2023 champions.

As the winner of this event, Te Atatu TAT A3 will represent the Auckland region in the National Interclub Bowls 3Five held on 5-7 May 2023 in Wellington.

Auckland Bowling Club’s facilities, green and hospitality made it an ideal venue for a successful & competitive Finals night – thank you.

Secondary School Pairs

7 March 2023
In collaboration with College Sport Auckland, Bowls Auckland held its annual Auckland Secondary School Pairs at Mt Eden Bowling Club. 52 any combination Pairs (a record number) from 11 colleges entered. The format consisted of two bowls each, five games of 40- minutes, that needed to be fitted between 9:30 am and 2:15 pm.

Special credit must be given to the clubs; Glen Eden, Rocky Nook, Auckland Bowling Club, Mt Albert, New Lynn, and Mt Eden that have adopted school/s and set up coaching and mentoring opportunities. These clubs had members attend to support their students - their coaching is reflected in the very high standard of bowls.

Four teams found it tough going. But, their tenacity to continue to toil in the hot sun is a credit to their sportsmanship. Five teams managed to get five wins, so it came down to NToS with the finishing order being.

First: Kings College - Brian Feng & Allan Tian - plus 53
Second: Kelston Boys - Kade Waaka-Iraia & Pritesh Kumar - plus 39
Third: St Peters College - Dominic Arnerich & Luka Matic-Kennar - plus 35
Fourth: St Peter College - Isikeli Brown & Jeremy Xing - plus 32
Fifth: Mt Abert Grammar Jacob Miller & Samuel Reeves - plus 25

A big thank you to Sally and Pyper from Bowls New Zealand for their assistance with students during the day and for being very generous in handing out lots of cool spot prizes - ngā mihi nui.

RIP Paul Stier

Glen Eden Bowling Club is saddened about the sudden passing of Paul Stier on Friday, 3 March, the result of a single-car accident. We extend our sincere condolences to Josie and the family.

Paul was a stalwart of the Glen Eden Bowls since joining in 1992. He became a qualified coach in 2000 and was the Club Coach for over 20 years. Paul initiated and ran the West Zone Winter Coaching from 2006 to 2021, with many successes in the ABCA’s Canoe & Campi tournaments. He was the Auckland Women's 1–5-Year Coach from 2015–2018, with a 100% record! In 2016, he was awarded Auckland Coach of the Year.

One of Paul's greatest interests was developing junior bowlers & he would often sacrifice his own bowling events to watch, support and encourage his juniors - often entering tournaments with them to further develop their skills. More recently, Paul has been involved in coaching and directing blind bowler Gerald Brouwers plus coaching Kelston High School students in preparation for the secondary school tournaments.

A great bowler in his own right, Paul attained his Gold Star (10 wins) in 2016-2017 and won 11 championships in Pairs, Triples, Fours and Mixed Pairs.

Paul was heavily involved with the Western Suburbs Bowling Association, serving at least 10 years as President, along with many years on Glen Eden’s executive committee, with stints as Chairman to running many club events, social & corporate events.

Not many would give up their time so freely over so many years for the betterment of their club, for bowls, and for the community in general. Paul will be sorely missed - his shoes will be hard to fill.

-- Glen Eden Bowling Club

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Club events

Bayleys Classic

Remuera Bowls welcomed 22 teams to their annual Bayleys Classic on 9 March.

Pictured with sponsor David Nightingale of Bayleys and convenor Murray Lander are the Howick champs: Kevin Beasley (S), Mark Andrews (L), David Weir (3), David Nightingale & Bruce Hickman (2).

With more time to play bowls, former Bowls Auckland's former GM David Ball skipped Carlton Cornwell's team to second place.

-- Cynthia Morris