The women starred for Wairarapa on a mixed day at the first representative outing of the season against Kāpiti at Paraparaumu Beach on Sunday.
Trailing 8-6 after the morning’s 2-4-2 matches, Wairarapa won four of the afternoon’s women’s singles, pairs and fours and took the honours 14-12. That was in stark contrast to the men, who went down 17–7 in two rounds of the traditional singles, pairs and fours format.
Wairarapa women’s selector Tanya Wheeler was pleasantly surprised with how her team performed, given there were some new combinations.
“It wasn’t overly convincing, but we did it,” Wheeler said, “and just overall, I was rapt because there was a real mixture this time, and it was probably the first time for some of these people playing together.
“No one lost the plot, and they were just steady and even when they were down, there were a couple of good fightbacks to win some games; it was steady overall and a good attitude.”
Wheeler was herself in good form, combining with Maryanne Ashworth to win her 2-4-2 [20–12] and then skipping the A four, also comprising Tracey Jacobson, Leah MacKenzie and Janalle Frew to a 19–11 victory in the afternoon.
Other wins went to Robyn Schischka and Dorothy Christianson [17–15] and Jacobson and Stacey Smyth [15-7] in the 2-4-2, and Rozanne Muriwai [21-17] in the A singles, Lil Renata and Helen Baker [17–16] in the B pairs, and Angela Rose, Ashworth, Alanna Saunders and Dale Lloyd-Stanton [12-11] in the B fours.
Despite the men falling to a convincing loss, selector Lester Dee felt there were some good efforts, and it was a solid shakedown for future fixtures.
“We had mixed results, but some of the teams played really well, and I’m pleased with some of the performances,” Dee said.
“There were some very close scorelines, and I was happy with the progress but not happy with the result. We had a mixed day; there were some good parts and not-so-good parts.”
Wairarapa’s wins came from the A four of Garry Muriwai, Matt Day, Steve Geange and Hayden Frew [14-11] and Aaron Love [21-13] in the B singles in the morning, and Gavin Hamlyn [21-13] in the afternoon’s A singles.
Dee was pleased, though, to have Ian Monaghan back in the ranks after a couple of years’ absence. The vastly experienced Monaghan combined with Mark O’Brien in the pairs for a narrow 15-14 loss in the morning’s round and a 17-17 draw in the afternoon.
There is now a two-month break before the next representative fixture, the Tararua Quad, at the end of January. Wheeler and Dee will need to trim their teams down to 10 players, although there will also be a tournament for players with one to eight years of playing experience. INTERCLUB
Martinborough dominated the second day of Bowls Wairarapa men’s interclub in Featherston on Saturday to wrap up their third consecutive championship.
Martinborough won seven of the nine games, six of those with bonus points for winning by 11 shots or more and dropped only two singles games to finish on 99 points, well clear of runners-up Masterton on 66, Featherston with 65, and Carrington on 42 points.
OTHER BOWLS NEWS
Former Solway College student Olivia Mancer is making waves on the Canterbury bowling scene.
The New Zealand under-26 international won the Canterbury Centre Women’s Singles on Saturday, beating Denise Taylor 21–14 in the final. However, the drama came in the semifinal, when Mancer fought back from trailing 20–12 to win 21–20, taking four shots off what would be the final end.
