Dianne Haswell has taken out the Wairarapa open pairs, champion of champion pairs and singles as well as a Wairarapa open triples event. PHOTOS ELI HILL
BOWLS
ELI HILL
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Dianne Haswell is on a roll.
Fresh from securing a silver medal in Wanganui’s Masters’ Games, the Masterton Park Club bowler teamed with Mathew Day to win the McKerrow Trophy on Sunday.
The mixed pairs tournament for bowlers who have been playing for less than 10 years was held at Carterton’s Carrington Bowling Club.
Haswell and Day beat defending champions Dean Hands [Greytown] and Fiona Mancer [Masterton] 8-4 in a playoff after each pair had clocked up four wins in the competition.
The mixed tournament had been an excellent one to both play and watch, especially because she hadn’t planned to take to the green in the first place, Haswell said.
“I’d just come back from playing at Wanganui and was pretty tired from that but Mathew asked me to play and I sort of had to because it was such a good opportunity to play with an awesome draw bowler.”
Haswell is one win away from getting a gold star for five centre titles and will be attempting to make it happen at April’s champion of champions competition.
In the four years since she started playing bowls, she’s taken out the Wairarapa open pairs, champion of champion pairs and singles as well as an open triples event.
Haswell also plays for the Wairarapa representative side and plays two to three bowls matches a week particularly at galas, which she calls the “bread and butter of bowls.”
“I really enjoy the local galas and that’s what I’m trying to do at the moment just to enjoy the game. I’ve been pretty competitive with indoor bowls previously.”
She competed in both indoor and outdoor bowls at last week’s Masters Games where she finished runner-up in the mixed pairs.
One of the reasons Haswell has found success so soon is because of her indoor bowling background.
She began playing that from age 13 to 17 before taking a 20-year break from the sport.
She resumed playing indoor bowls in Upper Hutt before moving to the Masterton Indoor Bowling Club.
“Indoor bowls is really my first love, but I’m getting a bit older and maybe it’s time for some of the younger ones to come through.”
Indoor and outdoor bowls are not games just for the elderly, Haswell said.
“A lot of people see it that way, but you get the Australian BPL Cup on TV and there’s plenty more young bowlers than there are older ones competing there.
“I think the sport needs to adapt from the old ways, and it is starting to, we have Bowls3Five now which is a faster game, like T20 in cricket.”
Leading results from the McKerrow Trophy played on Sunday
1 Dianne Haswell/Mathew Day [Masterton], 2 Dean Hands [Greytown]/Fiona Mancer [Masterton], 3= Hayden Frew/Janelle Frew [Featherston], Darren Meyrick [Greytown]/Alanna Saunders [Masterton], Ronnie Saunders [Masterton]/Leah MacKenzie [Masterton].
