Grant Hassall
Taranaki bowlers are a hardy lot.
That came to the surface again on Sunday when wet weather threatened but didn’t prevent play in the Taranaki pairs events.
The women, in the Anderson’s Pies-sponsored event at Stratford-Avon, managed two post section rounds before the greens were flooded. The six remaining sides will finalise the event this Saturday at Hawera Park.
The men, after playing their opening post section round in Sunday morning’s drizzle, retreated inside to Paritutu’s indoor complex, managing to reduce the 41 qualifiers in the Auto City-sponsored Christmas pairs to just eight teams.
Paritutu’s indoor complex had also been called into action in recent weeks when rain impacted on the interclub competitions.
In the women’s pairs, the two duos through to the semifinals are Val McEldowney and Elaine Hodge (New Plymouth) and Chris Commane and Pauline Davy (Opunake). Hodge beat Val Symes (Fitzroy) 20-10 in the quarterfinals, while Davy accounted for Rhonda Adams (Fitzroy) 21-13 at the same time.
The four other surviving pairs are Cheryll Sharrock and Gale Fache (Paritutu), Pauline Kennedy and Kristin Stampa (Hawera Park), Cathy Andrews and Bridget Fletcher (Paritutu) and Alethea Rowlands and Lyn Scott (Tower).
The skips of the last eight pairs in the men’s event reads like a who’s who of Taranaki bowls. It includes Craig De Faria (West End), who with lead John Roberts, is hunting a third-successive victory in the competition.
Maurice Symes (Fitzroy), Kaylin Huwyler (Paritutu), Darren Goodin (Paritutu), Steve Walker (West End), Ron Gadsby (Fitzroy), Hamish Kape (Okato) and Darren Scott (West End) skip the other pairs still in contention.
De Faria had a close shave against Sean Cullinan and the highly promising Nigel Berry (Hawera Park) on Sunday morning. De Faria got home 19-18. However, things were much easier in the afternoon, with the four-time champion and Roberts thumping New Plymouth’s Peter Robertson and Laurence Hori 19-1.
Walker and Bruce Colgan accounted for three West End teams during the day. In the last 16 they beat Neil Candy and John Garrud 21-18, after leading by one shot playing the last end. In the prior round, Colgan and Walker snatched a 23-20 victory over Dave Wilson and Jordan Linn. Wilson and Linn led by four shots playing the last end. But Colgan and Walker drew four winners and then dominated the extra end.
Gadsby and Evan Jones – the 2022 champion-of-champions winners – edged past Patea’s Brendan Anderson and Bruce Phillips 15-14 in the last 16. The scores were even playing the last end, during which both leads had bowls touching the jack at the same time.
Kape and Camron Horo also had two close matches during the day. In the second round, Kape turned out the opponent’s shot bowl to take a single and deny Simon Rowe and Bill Johnston (Fitzroy) 16-15. Then, in a titanic clash, Horo and Kape got home 22-17 over Paritutu’s Dean Elgar and Aidan Zittersteijn.