BNH NZ Masters roundup by Lindsay Knight

  Several North Harbour bowlers performed with distinction when the Ryman-sponsored Bowls North Harbour NZ Masters came to a successful conclusion at the Orewa club on Friday.

 Foremost among the winning players was Garry Banks, well known in the centre both as a bowler and as an administrator and past member of the centre board.

 Now with Takapuna, after starting at Birkenhead and stints at other clubs, achieved the remarkable feat of making all three of the finals in which he competed.

 He scored an impressive win in the mixed 75 plus pairs with club-mate Beryl Macdonald, then won the men’s 75 plus pairs with another Takapuna player David Callaway.

 And then he skipped Callaway and two one-to-five players from Takapuna, Bryan Costello and Keith Stevens, to the final of the men’s 75-year plus fours. This was almost as big a feat as his two earlier gold medals for they were beaten in the final against a strong Mairangi Bay four of Murray Radojkovich, Brian Rogers, Ron Horne and Arthur Beel.

 It was an especially fine effort in the men’s pairs final as Banks and Callaway were up against as skip a national gold star badge holder, Petar Sain, from Auckland’s Carlton-Cornwall club.

 It was a good tournament for bowlers from Mairangi Bay as well.

 In a dramatic 60-74 pairs final Jan Gledhill and Colleen Rice came from behind to beat Takapuna’s Adele Ineson and Connie Mathieson 13-8. The drama and turning point in the contest came when Mathieson removed bowls from the head before Ineson could play her last bowl.

 After some discussion the Takapuna pair was deemed to have conceded the four shots Mairangi Bay was holding at the time. Gledhill and Rice then went on to dominate the remaining ends.

 Orewa’s Walter Howden’s composite four of club-mate Bruce McClintock, Birkenhead’s Peter Nathan and Steve Hoeft, from the Auckland centre, also won a cliff-hanger from the Browns Bay=Howick combination of Neil Fisher, John Walker, Brian Chapman and Colin Rogan in the 60-74 men’s final.

 An Orewa four skipped by Elizabeth Ring and with Val Taylor, Mary Wright and Tira Campbell and a Takapuna pair of Geraldine Wight and Irene Costello were also finalists.

 Both lost to experienced and strong combination, the Ring four to a skipped by Carlton-Cornwall’s Estelle Hickey in the 60-74 women’s final and Wight and Costello in the 75 plus pairs to two much decorated Northlanders, Jill Fraser and Ann Muir.

 Though entries from beyond Taupo were not extensive, understandable in these difficult times, Bowls North Harbour could feel well satisfied with how the championships were run and with the support from a range of clubs and volunteers.