Grant Hassall
Four familiar faces skip sides that will decide the outcome of the Metcalfe Real Estate Men’s Centre fours bowls competition after two days of play in Hawera over the weekend.
This coming Saturday will see the semi and final games take place at Hawera Park.
Aidan Zittersteijn (Paritutu) will meet Garry Murfitt (West End) in one game, with Craig De Faria (West End) and Dean Elgar (Paritutu) squaring off in the other.
Zittersteijn and teammates Kaylin Huwyler and Nathan Goodin have won the Metcalfe Real Estate-sponsored event the last two seasons. Hamish Kape skipped the team on both of those occasions, but with Kape playing in Nelson this weekend, Zittersteijn has moved to skip, with Camron Horo joining the side at No 3.
They sneaked past clubmate Darren Goodin 17-16 in the last eight. Murfitt has an excellent record in the event, too, having twice won it and he also made the final last year. Teaming with him this time are Steve Temperton, Norm Broughton and Dennis Osborne. Murfitt’s side overcame a 13-0 deficit to beat Paul Howell (Paritutu) 22-16 in the quarterfinals.
In the other quarterfinal games, De Faria beat Neil Earley (Inglewood) 21-13, while Elgar ousted John Garrud (West End) 17-14, having led 10-1 earlier.
De Faria’s side of Jordan Linn, Dave Wilson and Steve Walker is the most decorated quartet remaining, which includes having won the event thrice and the Open twice.
Elgar, now a fulltime member at Paritutu, has a new combination of Daryl Read, Bevan White and Kurt Smith.
On Sunday, defending champions Paritutu got off to a flying start in the Vospers-sponsored women’s division one interclub event at West End.
Paritutu won all six games to assume pole position in the seven-team competition, opening with a clean-sweep over cross-city rivals West End.
Briar Atkinson won 21-11 over West End’s Trish Howard. The Paritutu pair of Amanda Crehan and Bridget Fletcher followed suit, as did Gale Fache’s four of Kileigh Barber, Tina Atkinson-Watt and Alesha Quay, although Fache’s four needed a single on the last end to edge West End’s Viv Hall 13-12.
Paritutu backed that up with three easy wins over Stratford-Avon, while West End partly bounced back to take two games off Fitzroy, which ended the day in second place on four wins.
Howard, after trailing 20-16, pipped Rhonda Adams 21-20, while Hall nosed Maree Gadsby 19-18 in the fours.
Two pairs combinations ended the day with two wins – Judy Crawford and Vickie Kelly (Fitzroy) and Yvonne Cann and Brenda Rowe (Waitara).
Meanwhile, Atkinson’s promotion on the national stage will continue over the coming weeks. She teams up with Maurice Symes in a new event, the Twilight Bowls League, where eight invited pairs will compete over six weeks on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings in Auckland.
The event will be televised on Sky and involves a variety of bowlers in an endeavour to appeal to the public of the opportunities in bowls for various ages, families and the disabled.
Taranaki folk will also get a first-hand opportunity to see the disabled in action when Paritutu hosts the national para championships for four days from Monday, November 6.