The Grove Orewa Men’s Singles & The Grove Orewa Women’s Pairs
The relative ease with which Helensville’s Bart Robertson and Takapuna’s Lisa Dickson and Lauren Mills won their respective finals in the two The Grove Orewa Bowls North Harbour championships at Mairangi Bay at the weekend rather belied some of the earlier struggles they had had, especially in Sunday’s post-section rounds.
But for a slice of luck they might not even have made the finals.
In the men’s singles final Robertson was always in control in beating Riverhead’s Gordon Smith 21-9, and in the women’s pairs final Dickson and Mills won 14-4 over Mairangi Bay’s Elaine McClintock and Kerin Roberts and did so without needing to go the scheduled 18 ends.
But Robertson, especially, had many moments of anguish in both his quarter-final against Browns Bay’s maestro Colin Rogan, with 39 centre titles to his Credit, and then in his semi-finals against Birkenhead’s Daymon Pierson. He only just beat Rogan 21-20, then trailed Pierson, a centre gold star holder, 15-9. But he then showed all of the class and composure which have made him one of the centre’s most consistent players over the past decade, to collect a four, then a two and consecutive threes, over the next four ends to win 21-15.
He now can claim to be a consummate master of the singles discipline. For among the 16 centre titles he now has, this was his sixth singles championship, plus two in the champion of champions and one in the premier tournament, which perhaps is the hardest to win but does not count as a centre championship, as it includes bowlers from other centres.
Smith, who also was runner-up in the championship pairs last week, was well beaten, but probably had the excuse of being physically and mentally drained from his epic semi-final, against another outstanding bowler in Browns Bay’s Neil Fisher. He won this 21-20, and only after Fisher had rallied strongly after being well down.
In the women’s pairs Dickson and Mills also could have gone out in what was a thrilling semi-final with Mairangi Bays’ Sheryl Wellington and Theresa Rogers, the latter especially in fine form after her win in the singles championship last week.
This was a battle which went shot to shot until the final few ends, when the match suddenly became a roller-coaster. What had been mainly a deadlock was broken on the 15th end when Dickson and Mills picked up a three to go 13-10 ahead. But on the 16th they dropped a five to go 13-15 down. They clawed back with a single of the 17th, then showed a calm temperament to reassert themselves on the last end to collect four to win 18-15, a margin which perhaps did not quite reflect how even this contest had been. In the quarter-final Wellington and Rogers against Takapuna’s Wendy Jensen and Trish Hardy had been involved in another tense battle, winning 17-16 on an extra end.
In their semi-final McClintock and Roberts had a much easier time, beating their old Orewa club-mates, Maureen Howden and Jan Harrison, now with Manly, 21-9 and needing just 15 of the scheduled 18 ends to do so.
For Lisa and Lauren it added to the triples they won with Birkenhead’s Millie Nathan a fortnight ago. It took Lisa’s tally of Harbour titles to 22, putting her up with legendary bowlers like Carol Fredrick, Ruth Lynch and, of course McClintock. For Lauren it was her fourth, putting a Harbour gold star within her grasp.
