Bowls: Paritutu edge ahead in women's interclub

Grant Hassall

Paritutu has taken an early lead in the Bowls Taranaki women’s division one interclub competition.

But with two rounds remaining, the contest is still very much wide-open. Paritutu claimed six wins and one draw from its nine matches in the Vospers-sponsored event at Stratford-Avon on Sunday, to hold a slender advantage over New Plymouth (six wins) and Fitzroy (five wins and one draw).

The final two rounds will be played on November 16 at West End. New Plymouth will have the toughest challenge there, with games against both Paritutu and Fitzroy.

Of the 18 combinations that started the day, only one – Paritutu singles player Briar Atkinson – managed the perfect three wins. Atkinson did it comfortably, too, with scorelines of 21-3, 21-12 and 21-10.

Paritutu also got a good yield from its pair, Jackie Moeahu and Heather Johns. They recorded two wins and one draw. The latter was a 15-all affair in the third round against Fitzroy’s Judy Crawford and Val Symes.

Cathy Andrews’ four had one win.

New Plymouth recorded two wins in each discipline, with Val McEldowney handling the singles and pair and four being skipped respectively by Liz Corbett and Elaine Hodge.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s weather permitted only the first round of section play in the Metcalfe Real Estate men’s centre fours in south Taranaki.

That meant all 28 teams advanced to Sunday’s post section rounds, with the four surviving skips being Ian Busby (Tower), Paul Howell (Inglewood), Craig De Faria (West End) and Trevor Johns (Paritutu). They will resolve the issue at Manaia on November 16.

Busby, playing with Mike Werder, Paul Werder and an impressive Chris Solomons, upset their more fancied clubmates, headed by Grant Anderson, 16-6 in one quarterfinal.

After winning the open triples in March, Howell has again combined well with Steve Sabine. They are joined on this excursion by Peter van Dyk and Chris Gyde. Five-shot counts on each of the first two ends proved decisive in their 19-7 third-round victory over Camron Horo (Rahotu).

Johns’ quartet of Eddie Betts, Kevin Gledhill and John Zittersteijn also laid it on in the third round, thumping Nigel Berry (Hawera Park) 17-3.

But the most decisive side was surely De Faria, who was skipping Jordan Linn, Dave Wilson and Steve Walker. They trounced clubmate Bruce Colgan 17-2 and after conceding just nine shots on the day appear on track for a fourth victory in the event.

Manaia will also host the men’s representative fixture this Saturday between Taranaki and Whanganui. The men’s side sees the recognition of Howell and also includes Evan Jones and John Gray, who has returned to the province.

The women’s clash is at Tower, with new selector Vickie Kelly recalling a number of players. Okato’s Ashleigh Megaw will debut.

Taranaki representative teams to play Whanganui on November 9:

Under-eights women: Lynda Banks, Shelley Clark, Angela DeBique Christine Grant, Cindy Gray, Linda Kape, Melisa McEwen-Shepherd, Theresa Needham, Alethea Rowlands, Irene Taunt, Gloria Wolfe.

Senior women: Chris Commane, Judy Crawford, Rita Davey, Gale Fache, Maree Gadsby, Trish Howard, Ashleigh Megaw, Alesha Quay, Val Symes, Lesley Te Awa.

Under-eights men: Te Manu Katene, Stephen Fevre, Mark Hawken, Gavin Benton, Craig O’Sullivan, Ian Dawson, Simon Rowe, Camron Horo, Nathan Goodin, Shae Fleming, Craig Murray, Corey Brookes.

Senior men: Paul Howell, Kurt Smith, John Gray, Evan Jones, Darren Goodin, Kelly Hill, Bruce Colgan, Steve Temperton, Steve Walker, Craig De Faria.