Hayden Frew … in outstanding form with Scott MacKenzie. PHOTOS/JADE CVETKOV
BOWLS
CHRIS COGDALE
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Winning the Wairarapa open pairs on Sunday with his good friend Hayden Frew was a special moment for Scott MacKenzie.
The Martinborough bowler estimates he has now won 24 centre titles, many of those in teams with Ian Monaghan, including four open pairs’ championships, but to achieve his fifth pairs crown with Hayden Frew holds special pride of place
“I’ve got to say that Hayden was the reason we won. He was awesome — he was just drawing like a demon,” MacKenzie said.
“I’ve won just about every centre title with ‘Monny’, apart from a couple of single ones, but to win a team event without him was real cool.”
MacKenzie and Frew reached the final against fellow Martinborough clubmates Garry Muriwai and Bill Brunenbeg with a 25-6 win over the father and son pair of Gary and Carwyn Caffell in the first round of post section play.
They then beat Steve Chapman and Jason Kawana 24-10 in the quarterfinals, and Rav Maharaj and Adrian O’Brian 23-5 in the semifinals.
Muriwai and Brunenberg beat Bill Isaac and Donald Walker 14-10 in the first round of post-section play, Graeme Taggart and Colin Hutchby 17-14 in the quarterfinals, and Robbie and Doug Bennett 19-9 in the semifinals.
After a close start to the final, MacKenzie and Hayden Frew pulled away over the last few ends to run out 20-9 victors.
MacKenzie, however, had special praise for Muriwai, who played the final suffering from excruciating back pain.
“For him to get to the final was a pretty mean feat because he was just hobbling around like an old man. He did really well, but in the end, we stretched it out a little bit.”
This title was the second of the 2021-2022 season for MacKenzie and Frew. They won the open fours with Muriwai and Brunenberg in November.
On Saturday, MacKenzie and Frew will look to score back-to-back titles in the Champion of Champion Pairs at Eketahuna.
Martinborough’s Makaia Campbell added another centre title to her glittering trophy cabinet, combining with Wendy Mitchell from Masterton to take out the women’s open pairs, beating fellow Wairarapa representatives Tanya Wheeler and Janalle Frew in the final.
The experienced duo are a strong combination, and know each other’s play well, having played the pairs for Wairarapa in recent representative fixtures.
That was evident at the business end of the tournament.
Campbell and Mitchell started post-section with a comfortable 19-5 defeat of Dale Rowe and Helen Baker in the quarterfinals, followed by a tight 17-14 victory over Rozanna Muriwai and Jacqui Oakly in the semifinals.
Wheeler and Janalle Frew beat Judith Wyeth and Tina Hogg 26-5 in the quarterfinals and Lorna Green and Karen Armitage 21-10 in the semifinals.
Campbell and Mitchell were untroubled in a one-sided final, pulling away for a 20-6 victory.
It was Mitchell’s second centre title of the season, having been part of the winning Masterton team in the open fours.
Both finals again highlighted the emergence of Martinborough as the dominant bowls force in the region, with the club providing seven of the eight players in the finals.
