A busy weekend of bowls with the MBBC 1-5 Year, Any Combination Pairs (report to follow), the Bowls North Harbour Women’s Centre Triples and the Bowls North Harbour Centre Men’s Singles all being played on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th February 2023.
The Grove Orewa BNH Women’s Centre Triples
Mairangi Bay had two teams entered into The Grove Orewa BNH Women’s Triples with the team of Gaye Horne, Joy Watkinson and Theresa Rogers drawn in section 1 and the team of Sheryl Wellington, Jan Gledhill and Colleen Rice in section 2.
In the section play on Saturday, Gaye’s team managed three wins from three games to go through to post section on Sunday. The had a good win against Takapuna and two close wins over Orewa and Browns Bay teams. Sheryl’s team started with two wins against Birkenhead and Beach Haven but had a loss against Helensville. Birkenhead had a huge win in their final section game to go ahead of Sheryl’s team on points differential and so progress to post section.
In post section on Sunday Gaye’s team faced up to the Birkenhead team skipped by Trish Croot. Gaye’s team dropped behind early on and after 8 ends they were behind by 5 to 11. In the next four ends they picked up 12 points to go ahead 17 to 11 after 12 ends, and lead 19 to 14 with two ends to play. They were all playing well, and the shining star was Joy, who was playing some great bowls at two. Then a three and a two to Birkenhead saw the game tied at 19 all and an extra end was needed to find the winner. One shot to Mairangi Bay and on they go to the finals against Orewa, skipped by last years runner up Elizabeth Ring.
Mairangi hit their straps with some great lead bowls by Theresa and after a slow start they surged ahead to lead 17 to 6 after 13 ends. The team all contributed and combined well to take the title 21 to 11.
In Lindsay Knight’s report, he states:
The women’ win brought Rogers, one of North Harbour’s most consistent lady leads, to the verge of a bar to her gold star, a remarkable feat as she has been playing bowls for barely a decade.
For Horne, still a junior player, it was her second open title adding to the champion of champions triples success in 2020-21 and followed a memorable national championships when she beat the Black Jack Tayla Bruce in section play.
For Watkinson it was her first open title, though she enjoyed considerable success as a junior.
