Manawatu on top after annual quadrangular

OPINION: Manawatu's  effort at the annual quadrangular tournament at the weekend clearly established our teams as the pre-eminent representative sides in the lower North Island.

Competing against Wellington, Wairarapa and Kapiti, our men won both the senior and development round-robin contests and finished second in both women's divisions.

All along, consistency of performance is what selectors have demanded and our teams delivered that on Sunday.

For such a star-studded lineup, Wellington would have been disappointed to finish last in the men's open division.

After Saturday's extreme weather, Levin Central's greens suffered heat stress and had to be flooded overnight. The middle of the men's four, in particular, took some time to adjust to the slower pace.

Selector Eric Watson now has the Regional Intercentre on February 27 and 28 to look forward to and has the Centre Open singles this weekend to further assist him before confirming his team.

Women's selector Lyn Elphick was rapt in how her teams went, especially the Development side where she had made changes.

She was particularly delighted with both fours, and the Development team's first-up win over Wellington was the day's highlight.

The women's Centre fours were completed on Saturday and Liz Rossiter's Northern team of Anne Corlett, Julie-Anne Mills and Shirley Ryan took out the title from Bulls' Mona Melton.

Meanwhile, the men have reached the final stage and it will be fought out between Palmerston North's Trevor Butcher and Northern's Ray Lovie.

Trevor has Eric Cairncross, Paul Rowe and Ron Henn with him, while Ray has Doug Hayward, Des Meyer and John Proctor. Looks an intriguing final.

February is the month when some of our major two-day tournaments are held.

Ashhurst tell me they have a capacity field for their February 13-14 tournament, but Takaro are still looking for entries for their triples the following week.

Johnston Park have only just opened entries for their two-dayer in the last weekend in February.

All these tournaments are generally very popular and bowlers meet each other in a more relaxed atmosphere after the intensity of Centre and Interclub events.

Palmerston North have extended their "Mates in Bowls" competition to two nights a week and have 56 triples entered.

This is another indication of what appeals to a modern-day working population.

Palmerston North's outstandingly popular Golden Oldies' tournament from March 2-5 has only one spot left.

The men's open singles this weekend has drawn a field of 70, which is pleasing, and everyone I have spoken to believes they have the draw from hell, so the quality must be excellent.

email tony.jensen@aon.co.nz

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