The Bowls North Harbour Interclub 7’s were held over the weekend at Milford, Mairangi Bay, Manly and Browns Bay, with finals day Sunday at Browns Bay. The weather was fine with little wind but very warm.
We had four teams entered, one each in the men’s and women’s division 1 and two teams in the any combination division 2.
Our women’s team, the Pearls, were striving for back-to-back wins. The team was : Singles -Theresa Rogers, Pairs – Elaine McClintock and Kerin Roberts, Fours – Sheryl Wellington, Jan Gledhill, Colleen Rice and Julie Chhour with Lorna Donald reserve and marker.
They played a five round, round robin over the two days. They played their main rival Takapuna in the first round. In an amazing close, tense and exciting match, both the pairs and the fours drew. Theresa, who played in the fours last year, beat Keiko Kurohara 21-20, taking the victory with her last bowl after being down 20-19 . This gave Mairangi Bay the match points and a crucial victory.
Mairangi Bay went on to take the match points against Helensville, Browns Bay and Birkenhead to take the victory for the second year in a row.
They all played very well with some tough games, but a special mention goes to Julie Chhour, who débuted at this level and played some excellent bowls.
Well done to the Pearls, who now go on the BNZ National Interclub 7’s to be held in Wellington April 3-6th.
In the Men’s Division 1 our team was: Singles – David Payne, Pairs – Phill Chisholm and Bruce McClintock, Fours – Gerry Strydom, Peter Orgias, Gordon Jenkins and Allan Langley. They had a great first day topping their section to qualify for the semi-finals.
Notable teams to miss out on qualifying were Takapuna and Birkenhead.
Mairangi Bay drew Riverhead in the semi with Browns Bay playing Beachaven who were the next best qualifier from the three sections. Mairangi lost the fours to a very strong Riverhead team skipped by Steve Cox. David Payne won his singles against Gordon Smith, he had a very good tournament winning all his four games. The pairs team started slow but slowly caught up, and with two ends were in with a chance but those last two ends did not go their way. A loss to a very strong team, but a top effort in making the semi-finals.
In Division two we had two teams. No singles in Division 2, two sets of pairs and any combination. Both teams played 4 games on the day which was very testing in the hot conditions.
The Stingrays played at Mairangi Bay, their team was Pairs – Murray Radojkovich and Larry Cain also Judi Farkash and Joy Watkinson. Fours – Leon Wech, Hanaan Shahwan, Glenda Rountree and Michael Thomas.
The Stingrays, lacked a bit of sting on the day unfortunately, losing to Hobsonville, Beachaven, Birkenhead and Manly. We know this team is way better than the results on the day, it was just one of those days where things did not go well.
The Dolphins played at Milford and the day for them went extremely well.
The team was: Pairs – Ian Coombe and Jodie Cottier, also Tony Trent and Kevin Cameron. Fours – Rachel Long, John Gledhill, Graeme Storey and Muy Chhour.They had a tough day as their section only had five teams, so there was a bye, only trouble was Mairangi Bay was the only team in the section that did not receive a bye, so they played a fourth game unlike their rivals who played only three.
This team did not complain, well they did actually, but they just got into their work and came out topping the section.
4-1 wins over Milford, Northcote, Browns Bay and Orewa. They all played very well but special mention of Muy leading extremely well, Jodie playing with great confidence and Graeme Storey, who has been bowling very well of late. Rachel and John controlled the fours team very well, Tony and Kevin combined extremely well and the youth and experience of Jodie and Ian proved a winning formula.
Sunday saw them move to Browns Bay for finals day.
First up they drew a very strong Manly side in the quarter final, which included Trish Croot, Judy Smith and Shaun Goldsbury.
The Dolphins played with a real Porpoise, bowling very well against a strong team. They won the fours, won one pairs and lost the other, 4-1 to the Dolphins.
In the semi-final they were up against Mahurangi East. Ian and Jodie bowled very well and lead early but Mahurangi came back, it was 13 all with one end to come, which unfortunately was won by the opposition.
In the other pairs Tony and Kevin led early and had a good lead, Mahurangi came back but the Dolphins held on. One game each, down to the fours another close game, Mahurangi hit the front late and led by three with one end to go. Mahurangi bowled the last end well and were holding two, John cut it back to one. Rachel with her last bowl needed to come inside some bowls, sit on the shot bowl and move it a foot to get three for the draw. She was close but not close enough and Mahurangi took the win.
This was a top effort by this team which combined very well.
Mahurangi went on the win the final beating a very strong Birkenhead team.
A BIG THANK YOU to a number of people.
Markers: Lorna Donald, Graeme McGregor, Tony Stanaway.
Lorna was there all day Saturday, Graeme was there Saturday and Sunday.
Tony was there for the second game on Sunday but was not required. He ended up marking the singles game in the men’s final.
Colin Rogan (Browns Bay) against Gordon Smith (Riverhead). It was a great game with Colin coming out the winner.
Mark Batley and Hanaan Shahwan, recording and processing the results.
Glenda Rountree for organising the people, setup, kitchen and a lot of other stuff.
Elwyn Beatson a late replacement for the kitchen.
The Stingrays for helping mark and setup.
And thanks to the players that stepped up late as replacements.
Well done Mairangi Bay.
Report by Alan Daniels