Bowls: Bowls event on this weekend at Paritutu

Grant Hassall

Paritutu’s indoor complex will host a pre-season representative fixture between Taranaki and Whanganui this weekend.

The new initiative sees the men compete on Saturday, with the women squaring off on Sunday.

It will be an interesting introduction for the respective new selectors John Gray and Chris Commane.

Gray has assembled a strong side, despite Adam Collins and Darren Goodin not being involved this time. A few other players, like Scott Roberts and Steve Walker who were both involved in the intercentre in March, are sadly unavailable for this season.

Those defections are offset by the return of two past North Island representatives, Dean Elgar and Daryl Read, and the decorated North Harbour representative, Bart Robertson.

Robertson, nephew of the 1984 Dominion pairs winner Pat, has been seen in New Plymouth occasionally over recent years with his brother “Red”. He has made the decision this year to align fully with Taranaki.

Eight players will be involved in both the senior and under-eight sections across three rounds.

The women’s side is made up of virtually all under-eight players. Judy Crawford and Rita Davey, who have both been involved in recent seasons, will feature again, as will the returning Janice Ropitini and the rising Vivienne Hall.

The new face is Jasmine Merrick, who has relocated to south Taranaki with husband Marcus. The couple are competitive, having previously won the Bay of Plenty mixed pairs, and represented both that centre and Gisborne East Coast.

Commane has elected to rest four senior members of her squad – Briar Atkinson, Maree Gadsby, Rhonda Adams and Trish Howard. Those four will mentor players this weekend and then play against Waikato on August 30-31 at Paritutu.

Taranaki sides to play Whanganui:

Senior men: Camron Horo, Craig De Faria, Dean Elgar, Kelly Hill, Daryl Read, Kurt Smith, Bruce Colgan, Bart Robertson, Nathan Goodin. Under-eight men: Ross Sinclair, Shae Fleming, Ian Dawson, Blair Clark, Steve Fevre, Joel Chard, Peter Van Dyk, Jimmy Quay, Luca Dobson.

Senior and under-eight women combined: Alesha Quay, Alethea Rowlands, Amanda Crehan, Angela Debique, Ashleigh McGaw, Christine Grant, Cindy Gray, Colleen Hodges, Dallas Voss, Diane Chapman, Janice Ropitini, Jasmine Merrick, Jill Forbes, Judy Crawford, Julie Hemahema, Lois Debique, Melisa McEwen-Shepherd, Mihi Hona, Rita Davey, Tina Atkinson-Watt, Tricia Seaver, Viv Hall.

Meanwhile, the annual Taranaki awards evening last month saw Craig De Faria and Briar Atkinson acknowledged as the players of the year and Stratford-Avon were rewarded for their hard work as club of the year. Camron Horo was named youth player, while the other award recipients were Willie Fleming (greenkeeper), Maurice Symes (coach) and Steve Muller (administrator).

This weekend sees the start of the New Zealand champion-of-champions series, with the singles in Auckland. Taranaki’s representatives, Hamish Kape and Kristin Stampa, both have drawn tough qualifying paths. The series continues each weekend until the end of August.