Taranaki representative bowlers head south for pinnacle event

Taranaki’s representative bowls teams are set for the pinnacle of the season.

Both the men’s and women’s Revital Fertiliser sides flew out to Christchurch on Wednesday to launch their bids for the New Zealand intercentre crowns.

The men last won the holy grail of provincial bowls in the country in 2015 in the garden city, while the women’s most recent success was in 2000.

Men’s selector Allan Batley, despite having a concerning number of leading players unavailable, still has a useful side. Dean Elgar has been returned to the singles, while Craig De Faria will lead for Maurice Symes in the pairs. Remarkably, Symes skipped De Faria’s father, Bruce John, in the pairs in the same event in 1985.

Hamish Kape skips the four that comprises Adam Collins, Aidan Zittersteijn and Steve Walker.

The men commence with two rounds on Thursday afternoon against Central Otago and Counties Manukau. The remaining matches are against Bay of Plenty, Marlborough, West Coast and Wairarapa.

Don Christensen’s women’s side has a more settled, consistent look to it from the Octagonal last month. Briar Atkinson continues in the singles, with the pair of Susan Cottam and Trish Howard also unchanged.

Val Symes skips the four with Chris Commane, Rhonda Adams and Kristin Stampa.

Taranaki’s bid commences on Friday with games against Thames Valley, a strong North Harbour and Kapiti. On Saturday the side will meet Dunedin and Marlborough.

A top-two finish in pool play is required to advance to the quarterfinals late on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, in the Brian Darth Funeral Services-sponsored Bowls3five event, West End sneaked through to take the title at Stratford-Avon on Tuesday night.

Steve Walker, Bruce Colgan and Margie Davis took the honours. They edged Maurice Symes, Val Symes and Allan White 6-1, 3-3 in the final. The West End trio will now contest the New Zealand finals in May.

Previously, the junior Bowls3five event turned into an Okato benefit, with two teams from the coastal club on the climb contesting the final.

In the decider it was Ben Brophy, James Connell and Linda Kape that got the nod over the Megaw family team of Paul, Fynn and Ashleigh.