Report – Birkenhead Good Home Open Womens Pairs – by Lindsay Knight

Trish Croot of Manly Bowling Club, accompanied by promising Auckland and Bowls NZ High Performance Development squad player Kimberley Hemmingway, won this season’s Good Home Birkenhead Womens Pairs at the weekend.

In a close final Trish and Kimberly beat Takapuna’s Japan international Keiko Kurohara and Judi Farkash 11-9.

Once again, the Good Home pairs was an outstanding event and, despite high profile women’s tournaments also staged at the weekend in other northern centres, there was a near capacity field of 28 teams from Northland, Auckland and, of course, North Harbour.

The final was a close encounter with Keiko and Judi up 9-8 after 12 of the 14 ends. But Trish and Kimberly picked up a two and a single on the 13th and 14th for a narrow win.

Both teams were comfortable winners of the semi-finals, with Keiko and Judi beating club-mates, former Black Jack Wendy Jensen and Trish Hardy 16-5, a surprisingly large margin as in the quarter-finals Wendy and Trish had ousted the multiple centre title-winners, Elaine McClintock and Kerin Roberts, both now with Mairangi By.

In their semi Trish Croot and Kimberly beat Northlanders Patricia Murray and Karina Cooper 19-8, which for the latter team was another reversal of good form in the quarters. There they had just pipped last season’s winners, Lisa Dickson and Lauren Mills, 16-15.

That was the second heart-stopping match for Lisa and Lauren. They only just managed to win in the round of 16, the opening post-section match, needing an extra end to edge past another of the many Takapuna combinations in the tournament, Jamie Chen and Jan Calcott.

Northlanders Diane Strawbridge and Dawn Owens took what was effectively fifth place in the championship by winning the A flight.