Sunday, Jan 21 2024
Grant Hassall
Stokes Valley’s Caleb Hope and his side emerged from a spectacular quarterfinal with a one-point victory in the 119th Midlands Funds Management Taranaki men’s Open fours at Paritutu yesterday.
In a game many observers rated as worthy of a final, Hope skipped his side of John Brien, Corey Brookes and Robbie Bird to a nerveracking 25-24 win against West End’s Craig De Faria.
The win secured Hope a semifinal berth this morning against Birkenhead’s Chad Nathan. The other semi is an all-Taranaki affair between Tower’s Scott Roberts and Paritutu’s Darren Goodin.
The Hope-De Faria match finished at 7.55pm, which was not altogether unreasonable, given an hour’s play had been lost because of rain mid-morning and the clash itself did not start until after 3pm.
De Faria’s side of Jordan Linn, Dave Wilson and Steve Walker led 10-5 after six ends. But then the trend of one team dominating scoring for a period kicked in.
Hope went ahead 16-10 through 12 ends; De Faria hit back to get in front 20-17 after 18 heads; then it became 20-all. Hope took a three-shot buffer into the last end. Brien and Linn, who had an intriguing battle, both got close.
West End held two, before Bird drew the jack. Walker, with an excellent hit, killed the end.
On the replay, Linn drew two good ‘uns. Bird was in the vicinity twice, his second bowl just falling short of one of Linn’s counters.
Both Wilson and Walker had handy bowls. At the change-over it was uncertain whether De Faria held two, three or four. Neither skip altered the head.
The measures came out and Bird and Walker, both having had turns, agreed that the count was only two.
And so it was Stokes Valley’s match.
The bowling achievements of both Hope and Bird have been documented previously during the week. Brien, a past Wellington Open fours winner, appeals as a traditional specialist lead. No 2 Brookes is Brien’s cousin. They have played together in the tournament multiple times.
Brookes, an eighth-year player at West End, is a Taranaki under-eights rep. Nathan’s Birkenhead side of his father Peter at lead, David Payne at second — both have previously won the North Harbour singles — and wily Evan Thomas at No 3, have the potential to keep Hope honest this morning.
Their 26-8 quarterfinal win ended the dream run of the Mt Albert side of Leon George, Jim Gray and Nathan Haturini and skip Steve Ramsay.
It was all pretty much one-way traffic. Nathan led 12-3 after seven ends, then 20-4 after 12.
Roberts, playing with Mark Kuklinski, John Roberts and Kelly Hill, eliminated Neville Hill (Onehunga & Districts) 22-17.
Remarkably, a five on the first end proved the difference according to the card. No more than a three was scored on any other head.
But the more accurate story was two-fold. Hill’s side of Davey Motu, Mike Bradshaw and Liam Hill — how many 14-year-olds have ever played No 3 in a Taranaki Open quarterfinal? — recovered from 10-6 down to 15-12 in front after 16 ends.
On a long head, which saw Motu draw the jack, Neville Hill, with his last delivery, rolled out the closest Tower bowl to hold four. Roberts, though, is a pressure player. He drew a pearler for one.
Thereafter, the Tower side drew closer and while Neville Hill often reduced the count, Roberts cribbed home with singles on each of the last six ends.
In the remaining quarterfinal, Goodin and his side of Don Christensen, Rodger Hassall and Dean Elgar somehow found a way to win 23- 21 over the Bulls team of Warren Hausman, Mark Smith, Scotty McGavin and skip Trevor Belk.
Goodin led 13-8 after 11 ends and held a reasonable three until Belk rolled in one of his own bowls for shot.
The momentum swung with it. Belk surged in front 21-17 after 22 ends. Goodin pulled back two singles but was in deep trouble when McGavin drew the jack for shot on the last end.
Goodin, however, found a path to the bowl, clipping it off to hold two shots. Belk hit another Paritutu bowl in.
Goodin drew another. Reaching through the head, Belk narrowly slipped under the jack, touching nothing for a frustrating loss.
In the third-round games that finished earlier in the afternoon, De Faria’s match with Garry Muriwai (Martinborough) was the closest and longest.
De Faria sneaked through 21-20, having led by three shots playing the last end. Muriwai twice held five-shot buffers midgame, but four ends in a row to De Faria had his side 18-14 in front after 20 ends.
Muriwai levelled with three to go, but a two and a single gave De Faria just enough space. Thomas had a tense clash with Darren Scott (West End), leading just 16-14 after 16, before pulling away.
Hope got a flyer against Mark Anderson (Tower), leading 12-1. That break was decisive in Hope’s 24-14 win. Roberts got past Dan Delany (Royal Oak) 24- 18.
Delany had led 13-8 after 12 ends and the scores were 18-all after 21 heads. Belk overturned a 10-7 deficit in beating Nigel Drew (Birkenhead) 24-18.
The other round three matches were all decided by relatively comfortable margins. Goodin beat Peter Nixon (Sunshine Coast) 25-12, Hill ousted Phil Morgan (Te Puke) 25-12, and Ramsay a 31-17 victor over Colin Boyle (Carlton-Cornwall).
*Four visiting teams will dispute the New Plymouth Club-sponsored Taranaki Open fours-pairs event following three post section rounds at Vogeltown yesterday.
Allan Rickard and Hugh Andrews (Bannockburn), who were runners-up in the pairs two years ago, meet Bob Shorter and Ash Paul (Darfield) in one semifinal today.
The other semi is between Brendon Walton, who was runner-up in the fours last year, and Adam Blucher (Te Atatu Peninsular) against Wanganui East’s Garth Lyne and Cary Pinker. Pinker won the pairs in 2014.
The pairs will be played at Paritutu today, too.