Bowls: Taranaki bowls claims title at NZ event

Grant Hassall

Kurt Smith is Taranaki’s latest New Zealand champion bowler.

Smith, who belongs to both the Oakura and Paritutu clubs, won the disability open pairs title at Browns Bay, North Shore, on Thursday with his friend from Claudelands (Hamilton), Teri Blackbourn.

The duo were too strong in the final beating Chen Naude (Putaruru) and former Taranaki Herald reporter Graham Skellern (Tauranga) 26-15 in the final.

A drawn five on the opening end set the tone for the final, with Blackbourn, who has an impressive indoor regime as well as a growing one in the outdoor code, dominating the lead battle.

On the third end Smith illustrated his strong attacking game when he drove off the opposition shot to score a four. The same count was repeated on three other occasions.

The victory for Smith provided excellent vindication of his New Zealand selection for the trans-Tasman later in the month.

In the open competitions, which were played at the same time as the disabled events, Taranaki’s best showing came in the men’s pairs, where West End’s John Roberts and Craig De Faria were bronze medallists.

They lost 17-12 in the semifinals to Auckland’s Scott Cottrell and Adam Haywood, after trailing by four shots playing the last end.

A gusty wind made precision difficult on a quick green, but Roberts and De Faria were in the contest throughout, after leading 5-0 after four ends.

The pair had scored a strong 21-14 quarterfinal win over former Paritutu member Aidan Zittersteijn and current Black Jack Sheldon Bagrie-Howley.

Okato’s Hamish Kape and Kaylin Huwyler also put in a useful account in the pairs, winning three post section games before falling by one point in the last 16.

Kape also made the last 16 of the singles, before being edged out 21-18 by Gavin Hamlyn (Martinborough).

De Faria also recorded three wins in the singles knock-out rounds. He was defeated 21-15 by eventual semifinalist Michael Galloway (Royal Oak) in the last 32. Huwyler had lost 21-17 to Galloway in the previous round.

Paritutu’s Dean Elgar also made the last 32 before losing a nailbiter 21-19 to former Black Jack Seamus Curtin.

Taranaki’s big hope in the women’s Briar Atkinson lost narrowly in the first round of post section in the pairs. Earlier she had lost 21-18 to Wendy Jensen (Takapuna) in the second round of the singles. Jensen went on to finish runner-up.

Bowls attention now switches to the Midlands Funds Management men’s Open fours, which begins on January 20, and The Devon Hotel women’s Open fours, which starts on January 28.