Grant
Craig De Faria has now won 30 Taranaki bowls titles.
The West Ender achieved the milestone, the first player in the province to do so, when he skipped John Roberts to win the Christmas pairs on their home green on Saturday. It was the fourth victory for the duo in the event and Roberts’ personal overall tally moved to 28.
In the final of the Auto City-sponsored pairs they beat Kaylin Huwyler and Hamish Kape, playing under the Okato banner, 22-15.
There was double joy for West End as Lorraine Heal and Trish Howard claimed the Andersons Pies-sponsored Taranaki women’s open pairs. In a nailbiter, they edged out Fitzroy’s Judy Crawford and Rhonda Adams 22-21 in the final, played inside at Paritutu. Play had been transferred from Stratford-Avon midway through the earlier semifinals.
Roberts and Defaria, with a three, hit the lead at 8-6 after seven of the 21 ends in the final. It was a lead they did not relinquish.
While Huwyler and Kape were certainly competitive, they did not produce the same consistency that they had earlier, especially in the quarterfinals when they were completely dominant.
Two ends of the final settled the issue in the overall analysis. West End scored a drawn five on end 13, with Okato wayward. That took the score to 17-8. Huwyler and Kape replied with a three and then held a five on the next head. With the final bowl, De Faria came off the third shot to take the ace making it 18-11. Had he missed, a 17-16 scoreline would have created a grandstand finish.
As it was, the trademark steadiness of Roberts and De Faria prevailed. It gave De Faria, with his adroitness and inexorable determination, another career highlight as he hit the magic 30 mark.
It was not as clearcut in the semifinals for the victors, though. After holding a handy lead, De Faria was required to drive off one of the Paritutu bowls belonging to Don Christensen and Darren Goodin to force an extra end. And then, on the decider, De Faria had to draw the winner with his last bowl, to win 23-22.
In the other semi, Huwyler and Kape beat West End’s Bruce Colgan and Steve Walker 21-12.
The victory by Heal, her maiden Taranaki crown, and Howard, her third and all in the same event, was meritorious but not without plenty of nervous moments.
They started the final brightly, leading 10-3 through six ends. But three ends later Crawford and Adams had narrowed the margin to just one point.
Heal and Howard took the ascendancy again, creating an eight-shot advantage. They looked good, leading 20-12 after 16 ends. But Fitzroy with consecutives threes and a two brought it back to level.
West End took a brace on the penultimate, but Fitzroy held the advantage on the last head holding two, possibly three. However, Howard calmly landed among the counters to take second shot to enable her and Heal to sneak through by one point.
In the semis, West End beat Paritutu’s Briar Atkinson and Tina Atkinson-Watt 23-17 while Fitzroy defeated Paritutu’s Bridget Fletcher and Cathy Andrews 20-11.
CRAIG DE FARIA – 30 Taranaki titles
Open singles 1993, 2005, 2008, 2016, 2019 and 2020
Christmas pairs 2007, 2016, 2021, 2022 and 2024
Open triples 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2019
Centre/New Year fours 1997, 2008, 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2024
Open fours 1987, 2019 and 2022
Champion-of-champions pairs 2007, 2011 and 2012
Champion-of-champions fours 1990, 1999 and 2017
Paritutu life member Don Christensen added to his illustrious bowls career when he claimed his 15th Taranaki title at Pihama in a nail-biting conclusion on Saturday.
Christensen won the Cross Country Rentals-sponsored Taranaki mixed pairs title with clubmate and cousin Cheryll Sharrock. But it was oh so close, with the duo needing an extra end to pip Adam Collins and Cathy Andrews, also from Paritutu, 11-10 in the final.
Christensen had an excellent final, his delivery immaculate, and with Sharrock led 8-1 through seven of the 16 ends. Collins drove the jack into the ditch on the next end to take a brace and with it the momentum. He and Andrews took the lead for the first time on the 15th end at 10-9.
But Christensen drew a winner on the last to force the game into overtime. He repeated the dose on the extra end, drawing a side toucher with his first bowl.
Sharrock moved the jack latter in the head towards her own bowl, which made the recovery for Collins or Andrews even more difficult.
In the end it was full honours to Christensen, in achieving his milestone, and Sharrock, with her maiden win. It was also third-time lucky for the duo, having twice previously lost the final together.
In the semifinals, Christensen and Sharrock beat Fitzroy’s Ron and Maree Gadsby 17-8, while Collins and Andrews beat West End’s Bruce Hall and Leanne Halls 21-8.
Christensen began his bowls at Kaponga, before moving to Hawera Park and then Avon.
It was from the latter club that he won his first Taranaki crown in the Christmas pairs on Boxing Day 1995.
The following season he transferred to Paritutu where his next 14 titles have been secured – the Open fours (1997 and 2024), the champion-of-champions fours (1997), the champion-of-champions pairs (1999, 2009 and 2015), the champion-of-champions singles (2003), the New Year fours (2001), the champion-of-champions triples (2004 and 2013), the Christmas pairs again (2009), and the open triples (2022 and 2023).
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Paritutu, with an unblemished record, emphatically defended the Summerset men’s division one interclub title. The third round was abandoned early, with Paritutu on seven wins and Fitzroy next best on three wins and one draw. The winning Paritutu side was Dean Elgar, Collins, Darren Goodin, John Zittersteijn, Kurt Smith, Daryl Read and Camron Horo.
Paritutu also won the Vospers women’s division two title. The winning squad was Sharrock, Alesha Quay, Barbara Harvey, June Gledhill, Amanda Crehan, Val Keightley, Kileigh Barber, Marlene McArthur and Jocelyn Stevenson.
The men’s division two title went to West End after it beat New Plymouth 3-0 in the final. The West End side comprised Steve Temperton, Blair Clark, Norm Broughton, Lindsay Murfitt, John Dickinson, Martin Dravitzki, John Sexton and Paul Darbyshire.
Bruce Chapman, Jeff Ward, Todd Curtis, Lee Broughton, Chris O’Dea, Barny Barnard, Jonty Linn, Malcolm Scott and Kewene Ratahi won the division three title for Tower.
In the popular Q Transport-sponsored junior interclub, it was a home victory for Lepperton’s Chris Ropitini, Shelley Baldwin, Matt Smith and Mike Baldwin. They scored a 19-4 win in the final over Paritutu’s Craig Atkinson, Jimmy Seed, Keith Brown and Rhys Hood. It was the second time the Baldwins have won the John Murtagh Trophy, having also been victorious two seasons ago.
West End’s Jordan Linn rose up the history ranks in Taranaki bowls when he claimed his 10th centre title at Manaia on Saturday.
Linn and his regular team mates Dave Wilson, Steve Walker and Craig De Faria carried off the Metcalfe Real Estate centre fours for a fourth time and with it the additional accolade for Linn.
De Faria’s side emerged 17-10 victors over Inglewood’s Peter van Dyk, Chris Gyde, Steve Sabine and Paul Howell in the final, with the last of the scheduled 15 ends left unplayed.
After a relatively even opening, three consecutive ends to West End took the score from 6-4 to 12-4, with De Faria’s attacking game converting the head on each occasion.
But aided by a four on end 12, when Howell pushed through the closest West End bowl, Inglewood were back in the hunt trailing by just two shots.
However, a single and a four, when Howell narrowly missed the jack on both ends, ensured West End’s win.
Windy conditions again may play difficult. Walker was the most consistent of the performers in the decider, improving many heads for West End. Sabine, his opponent, gave a reasonable account of himself as well.
In addition to the centre fours wins, Linn, in his 15th season, has previously won the open fours twice, as well as the Christmas pairs, open triples, champion-of-champion pairs and champion-of-champions fours.
In the semifinals, De Faria’s side trounced Paritutu’s Eddie Betts, Kevin Gledhill, John Zittersteijn and Trevor Johns 24-4, while Howell beat Tower’s Mike Werder, Paul Werder, Chris Solomons and Ian Busby 19-10.
Meanwhile, Paritutu with an unblemished six-from-six, won the Vospers-sponsored women’s division one interclub title at West End on Saturday.
Paritutu held a three-point lead over New Plymouth heading into the final round and confirmed its dominance by posting three comfortable wins from Tina Atkinson-Watt (singles), Bridget Fletcher and Hether Johns (pairs), Gaye Holub, Marlene Barrowman, Gale Fache and Cathy Andrews (fours).
Paritutu finished on 25 points, ahead of Fitzroy (19) and New Plymouth (16).
Paritutu’s cleansweep on Saturday was achieved without Briar Atkinson. Atkinson was in Hong Kong, competing in the International Classic, where she was placed third-equal in both the singles and pairs.
In the Summerset-sponsored men’s interclub on Sunday, four city clubs emerged as the qualifiers to dispute the issue at Paritutu on December 1 – Paritutu, West End, New Plymouth and Fitzroy.
Update at 10.30am.
Summerset Retirement Villages-sponsored men’s interclub: division 2 – no play at any venue. Division 1 and 3 continue.
Q Transport-sponsored junior interclub: play continues at all venues.
Rain is likely through the day, however, and so any updates will be posted here throughout the day as they come to hand.