Wellington dominated both the men’s and women’s events of the regional intercentre bowls contest at Paritutu on Saturday.
In the final analysis, it was a comprehensive victory for both teams from the capital. But that was not before some anxious moments.
Conversely, Revital Fertilisers Taranaki came up short. The men finished second, while the women had a disappointing day, winning just one game and drawing one other from the nine played. They shared third with Wanganui.
In the men’s section, Wellington won its three matches against Kapiti, Taranaki and Wanganui.
After Taranaki had squeaked past Wanganui 2-1 in the morning, it created a somewhat premature final against Wellington in the second round.
Seamus Curtin proved a little too hot for Darren Goodin in the singles, winning 25-18. Goodin had pipped Gavin Scrivener 25-24 in the opening round to secure the Wanganui match.
Dean Elgar and Hamish Kape, after a first-up one-point loss, levelled the ledger beating Stephen Ditfort and Raymond Martin 19-13.
That meant it all came down to the fours. Craig De Faria’s quartet of Adam Collins, Dave Wilson and Steve Walker, which had opened impressively 21-8 over Ray Park, trailed Ben King’s quartet for the entire match. However, the deficit had been reduced to one shot playing what became a short, loose, final end.
Taranaki held three on the charge over, but King drew the shot to ensure an 11-9 victory that clinched the match for Wellington.
Wellington completed their dominance beating Wanganui 2-1 in the last round, although Scrivener ousted Curtin 25-16.
At the same time, Taranaki beat Kapiti 2-1, with Goodin and De Faria winning.
Taranaki were never in the hunt in the women’s event.
Wellington, with a youthful and talented side, were emphatic in the first round with a 3-0 whitewash. Kristin Stampa’s team of Anne Brophy, Susan Cottam and Trish Howard, added a degree of respectability losing 16-12 to Nicole Toomey in the fours without ever threatening to win.
Val McEldowney took on the singles role in round two, narrowly falling 25-22 to Jane Selby-Paterson (Kapiti). Kapiti also took the pair and four, which left both them and Wellington with perfect records heading into the last round.
Wellington took that clash 3-0 to secure overall honours. But Lisa White had to come from behind to deny Selby-Paterson 25-23 in the singles. It was a similar situation in the pairs, where Dale Rayner and Kaaren Guilford won the last four ends to edge Audrey Stevenson and Diane McGill 16-15. Toomey’s four won 21-9 over Eileen Jones.
Taranaki’s last round match with Wanganui ended in a tie. Margy Carey and Rhonda Adams took the pairs, while Sue Winter drew the singles.