Bowls: Black Jack duo win mixed pairs at Paritutu

Grant Hassall

New Zealand representatives Sheldon Bagrie-Howley and Selina Goddard have won the mixed pairs title at the national bowls championships in New Plymouth.

Bagrie-Howley, of Gore, and Goddard, of Takapuna, ran out comfortable victors of the Summerset-sponsored event on the slick Paritutu greens on Thursday. They beat Trish Howard and John Garrud, from New Plymouth’s West End club, 20-6 in the final which was played in tough, windy conditions.

It was just reward for the composite Black Jacks duo, who both claimed bronze medals in the fours at last year’s world championships. They were runner-up in last year’s mixed pairs, which was held in Otago Central, and went through this year’s event with 11-straight wins. Seven of those came in post section, after 86 of the 246 pairs qualified.

Howard and Garrud opened the 14-end final with a three. After four ends, the West Enders led 4-3 and held two good shots on the next end, before the impressive Goddard ran the jack into the ditch. The internationals drew better to the spilt jack and collected a five. It gave them the impetus and confidence.

However, after eight ends, the contest was still wide-open. Goddard and Bagrie-Howley led 9-6 at that junction, before they won the remaining ends to wrap up the title. Goddard now has six Dominion titles and Bagrie-Howley three.

Bagrie-Howley and Goddard received a close shave in the opening post section round when they edged Tannith Potgieter (Durie Hill) and Logan Clark (Manurewa) 12-11 on Wednesday morning at Vogeltown.

After that things became a little easier, although the quarterfinal and semifinal matches did require some extra effort, and a little luck. In the last eight, they ousted Canterbury’s Tayla Bruce and Kelvin Scott 17-12 and in the semis they accounted for Bay of Plenty’s Angela Stephen and Nathan Arlidge 14-13, after leading by two-shots playing the last end.

Howard and Garrud defeated Wellington’s Kaaren Guilford and Stephen Brien, now based on the Gold Coast, 14-9 in the other semi. The difference had been three points playing the last end.

The only other Taranaki pair to survive Wednesday’s post section rounds was Paritutu’s Kaylin Huwyler and Briar Atkinson, but they surrendered a handy lead in the quarterfinals to Guilford and Brien to lose 18-13.

National fours champion found earlier this week

Over 160 fours teams descended upon Taranaki to contest the men's and women's National Championship Fours titles over four days of intense competition.

Defending champions Rodney Greaney, Paul Matheson, Adrian Robins and Kevan Greenwood fell at an early hurdle during their attempt to become the first 'back to back' men's fours winners since Rowan Brassey, Jamie Hill, Mike Reid and Ross Haresnape acheived the feat in 2003.

Other strong teams skipped by World and National Champions such as Gary Lawson, Sam Tolchard, Lance Pascoe, Blake Signal, Peter Belliss and Dan Delaney all also fell by the wayside as the tournament progressed, with English International Sam Tolchard losing a tightly contested semi-final against the eventual champion team.

The Champion team was skipped by the now three-time national champion, Mike Galloway, with David Clark, Martin Dixon and Steve Fisher rounding out his team.

It was the second taste of success for Clark, who has previously won the New Zealand Pairs title with Galloway.

For Dixon and Fisher this championship comes as their first Open National Title- with Steve Fisher now joining an illustrious list of players who've won Open National Titles in both indoor and outdoor bowls.

They defeated a valiant Manawatu team skipped by Dean Gilshnan, who had Phil Skoglund Jr, Matt Pearson and Scott McGavin in his team.

In the women's event, defending champions Val Smith, Deb White, Ashleigh Jeffcoat, Kimberley Hemingway were stymied in their attempt to emulate the legendary Millie Khan, who was the skip of the last team to go 'back to back' in the women's fours, when she won the title in 2002 with Jan Khan, Mina Paul and Marina Khan.

Losing to the team skipped by Kaye Bunn- who then suffered an agonising one shot semi final defeat at the hands of the eventual champions.

Some of the strong teams looking to stymie their efforts are skipped by Selina Goddard, Dale Rayner, Wendy Jensen, Clare Hendra and Bev Morel.

Dale Rayner and her team of Kaaren Guilford, Reen Belliss, Linda Ralph played exceptionally well as a team to win the final in a convincing fashion.

This win extended the record of Dale and Reen Belliss- who'd both won open national titles before.

For Kaaren Guilford and Linda Ralph, this championship marks their first success at national open level despite them both sporting formidable ''Bowls CVs''