Friday, Jan 19 2024
Grant Hassall
Bowls can be a great game and a cruel game. Just ask Tauranga’s Dan Dickison.
The accomplished player experienced the best of the Midlands Funds Management Taranaki men’s Open fours when he won the event in 2021.
But yesterday his more than useful team felt the despair of defeat when they missed qualification by the narrowest of margins. They entered the day with four wins and a one -point loss. In their first attempt to gain win No 5, Dickison led fellow four-winner Gerry O’Sullivan (Inglewood) 23-20 playing the last end.
But the Inglewood boys plonked them around the jack to snatch a four and a one point win.
In the afternoon, playing another four-winner, Colin Boyle (Carlton Cornwall), Dickison’s side went to an extra end.
There Boyle rolled up one of his own team’s bowls to take the match 19-18. There was plenty of heartbreak elsewhere, too, with just 52 team qualifying.
Rewa’s Dave McNeal needed his last match to also qualify. Playing Barrie Johnstone (Katikati), who had lost the lot until then, McNeal’s team toiled valiantly.
But Johnstone had one of those games where whatever he did, he got a result, denying McNeal 19-17.
Pt Chevalier’s John Petelo, needing his last game, surged ahead 23-17 after 20 ends against Takapuna’s Simon Poppleton.
But Poppleton, despite losing his qualifying chances in the morning, battled on, forcing and then winning the extra end to eliminate Petelo.
The 2005 champion, Ray Park (Wanganui), won twice to advance. He looked safe leading Gavin Crow (Vogeltown) 23-9 after 17 ends.
Crow then produced eight unanswered points, before a four sealed Park’s 27-17 victory. Dan Delany (Royal Oak) needed the full quota of rounds to qualify, after his side was belted 22-6 by Phill Chisholm (Mairangi Bay) in the morning.
That forced Delany into a must-win seventh round against six-winner Peter Nixon (Sunshine Coast).
Delany appeared to be cruising after 16 ends, with a 19-7 lead. But then Nixon commenced his run, levelling the scores and forcing an extra end.
But Delany took a two to qualify 22-20. After only one win from the first two days, Mike Oldfield (Tauranga South) completed the transformation, winning the next four to qualify.
The last effort was a good one, 21-14 over Graeme Fulford (Havelock North).
Maurice Symes (Fitzroy) had a similar story, winning five in succession after he lost the opening two games.
The 77-year-old former New Zealand rep remains a determined competitor. Section three became the group of death, with just two teams surviving — Mike Reddy (Kaitaia) and Anton Ferrari (Naenae).
In the morning’s feature game, Reddy took the safest path by beating Ferrari 26-21.
Heading into the last round, five teams sat on four wins.
Only Ferrari managed to win, beating fellow four-winner Bob Shorter (Darfield) 25-20.
Eric Foreman (Fitzroy) and David Ball (Carlton Cornwall) both fell one point short and Steve Cottam (Paritutu) was just four shots adrift of Reddy at the end.
Even though the qualification criteria this year was reduced by one game, due to Monday’s rain, the elation and frustration remain just as pronounced.