Hi Everyone,
Saturday was qualifying day for all the North Harbour Junior Interclub 1-5 teams with the finals to be played Sunday. This was a new format with the tournament previously being run on three or four consecutive Monday evenings with finals on a Saturday.
I think this new concept was well received.
There were four pools of four teams being played at Sunnybrae and Birkenhead.
Our Blue team were at Sunnybrae , they had a difficult day playing on unfamiliar star weed greens and also having a hard draw being up against the number one ranked team Birkenhead and a strong Warkworth team.
In singles Stuart Mackay had a hard day at the office losing all three games . He lost to a strong Warkworth player 21-16 and then lost to Milly Nathan a Harbour Senior rep 21-9.
Pairs team of Glyn Taylor and Rosemary Nicol had a big loss to Chad Nathan and Adam Richardson, both Harbour reps, then lost by five to Warkworth and finished the day with a strong win 17-6
Triples of Flora Macdonald, Joy Finney and Jim Center also had one win. They struggled in their first game going down 15-9 to Warkworth. They beat Orewa 15-10 and then lost the final game to a strong Birkenhead team skipped by Stacy Munro 14-15.
A great effort especially with Flora having her first experience at skipping. Joy bowled well in the middle and Jim consistently had bowls around the Jack.
A great experience for this team, they are all very keen to get more experience at this level.
Our Orange team were at Birkenhead on their top green.
Singles, Allan Langley had an Excellent day winning all three games, winning his first 21-9, the second against Sharon Parker 21-10 and in the last beat another North Harbour rep Matthew Higginson 21-14.
Alan was in total control in this game and played superbly, even playing three run shots which were all successful.
Pairs of Rick Dixon and Rick George had a difficult day losing all three games, both players struggled in their first game, they played much better bowls in the second but lost to a very strong Orewa team both Harbour reps. In the last, they played a very good Hobsonville team and they could not match them.
They will be much better for the experience.
Triples of Gaye Horne, Judi Farkash and Hanaan Shahwan had a strong win in the first 16-8 with Hanaan playing great lead bowls, Judi was also coming in with excellent bowls, Gaye was then adding to the count or covering.
In games two and three unfortunately the team did not gel as well and lost 17-10and 19-10.
The Orange team only needed one more win to make the finals.
A big thank you to the managers’ Colleen Rice and Alan Daniels and the club members who turned up to support the team.
Just a reminder we have both the Men`s and Women`s Club 1-5 Singles scheduled for May 1st & 2nd, Saturday/ Sunday.
Also the Men’s and Women’s Club 1-5 pairs scheduled for the following week 8/9th May.
The first year singles do not have a date as yet, looking around Mid-May.
Another reminder the North Harbour Men`s and Women`s 1-5 Singles entries close this Friday 26th March. These will be played 10/11th April .
The following weekend 16/17th is the 1-5 Any Combination Pairs. Entries close the following Friday.
Get your entries in if you have not already.
Let’s hope this fine weather carries through April.
Alan Daniels
Junior Convenor