Men and women bowls rep teams unbeaten

The Manawatu men's and women's representative teams came away unbeaten against Hawke's Bay at the Northern greens yesterday.

For the senior men, who won, 12-8, it was a vast improvement from the seniors' performance in the recent Arnot Shield match with Taranaki and host Wanganui.

"The team there was reduced from 12 to eight for today's match" said selector Eric Watson. "And though there were some positives, overall I would still be looking for more improvement."

As with the women, the next major test will be another quadrangular, on the Kapiti Coast in late January.

Promoted to the senior squad was Terrace End's Shane Rogers, who had won the centre open pairs with clubmate David Walker.

Wins to Ross Ellery, Chris Barrett and Horgan and a loss by Philip Skoglund's fours saw Manawatu ahead, eight points to four, with the second-round fours being squared.

It was a late run from Steve Toms and Barrett which enabled Manawatu to square the final round of pairs and hold on for their four-point win.

The men's development team also won, 12-8, against Hawke's Bay.

They virtually followed the same pattern as the seniors, with Terrace End's Grant Simms being the spearhead of its success.

He skipped both the fours to victory and also nailed the pairs with club-mate Mike Abraham.

New women's selector Lyn Elphick couldn't have wished for a better start to her role in Manawatu bowls.

So far she has produced an unbeaten run with a clear-cut success for her senior team (13-7), while the development women came with an unbeaten run in the final round of pairs to square the match 10-all, though won by Manawatu on differential.

Like Watson, Elphick is excited with what her players have achieved so far and said Kapiti in late January would be the ultimate test. She was forced to make one change when Sheryn Blake withdrew and Julie Palmer took her place.

"The results so far have been beyond my expectations when coming into the selector's role and I am rapt for all the players and the efforts they have put in," she said.

Chris Quinn and Lynley Rogers had a win and a draw in the pairs and also won their fours battle with Hawke's Bay.

Manawatu's leading bowlers, Bev Budd, Feona Sayles and Fran Frith, each came through with two wins each and as Elphick said "all her players in both the seniors and development pulled their weight".

- © Fairfax NZ News