Report – OPEN 2-4-2 Any Combination Pairs – 8th & 9th June 2024

Orewa’s Allan McQuoid and Chris Bailey, both relatively new bowlers, were impressive winners of Bowls North Harbour open two-four-two pairs tournament which concluded in difficult conditions at Takapuna on Sunday.  McQuoid and Bailey won the first prize of $500 with an emphatic win in the final over Shaun Goldsbury and Skye Renes, now with Manly, 19-10.  McQuoid and Bailey adapted better to the biting wind and persistent drizzle to take a firm grip on the match by jumping to an early 12-0 lead after just four ends, boosted with a five and four on the first two ends thanks to their accurate drawing.  A six on the sixth end took them to a 18-1 lead, and though Goldsbury, who is recovering from a knee operation, and Renes took the next five ends they were always facing an uphill battle and came to the last of the 12 ends needing an eight just to tie the game and send it to an extra end.

The win capped an excellent tournament for McQuoid and Bailey, both of whom are still in the one-to-five-year ranks, though they do come from strong sporting backgrounds, notably as golfers and McQuoid has also been involved in business-house bowls.  To make the final they had to overcome strong combinations in Birkenhead’s father-daughter, Peter and Millie Nathan, winning that quarter-final 17-13, and then in the semi-final, 11-8 over Browns Bay’s multiple centre champion Neil Fisher and his Auckland-based brother Ian.

The Goldsbury-Renes pair, who won $250 for their efforts, had to thank a last bowl promoting a short one from Skye for a 13-10 win in the quarter-finals when their opponents, Takapuna’s Steve Hoeft and his Point Chevalier partner John Petelo were holding the game.  They also had a close 11-9 win in the semifinals over Manly’s Matt Higginson and Birkenhead’s Adam Richardson.

It was overall an event in which junior or developing bowlers excelled. Goldsbury is also still a one-to-five player and Renes, Higginson and Richardson have not been long out of those ranks.

One of the centre’s most successful women’s players, Kerin Roberts, now with Mairangi Bay, and Orewa’s Warren Seeque, picked up the $230 first prize for winning the plate, beating Takapuna’s Grant Keats and Garry Banks 12-8 in the final.