N.Z. clinches bowls test

Press, 19 April 1980, Page 60

N.Z. clinches bowls test

PA Auckland On Thursuay Kevin Scott did not even know if he would be able to play in the bowls test- against Australia. Yesterday he beat John Snell convincingly in the singles, 21-12, and led for the triples in their close, 1817, victory. With the fours winning their match, 24-17, New Zealand clinched the first test at Okahu Bay by three games to one, losing only the pairs. Scott, a ■ 51-year-old “truckie” from Central Otago suffers from arthritis in his right shoulder. “It comes and goes,” he said. On Thursday morning he could not lift a comb to do his hair. But some applications of liniment saw him in fine form, with a superb display of draw bowls to down the Australian. Scott’s delivery would not win any prizes for technique — he almost dumps the bowl on to the green — but it certainly produced the desired results. Snell did not really get a look in after taking two shots on the first end, Scott raced to a 9-2 lead which he increased to 14-3 and then 17-5. The Australian got back to 10-17, but then Scott played percentage bowls to win the game. His victory was all the more meritorious as over the last five weeks he has been able to play only four days of bowls because of the arthritis. The New Zealand four,

with Morgan Moffat at three and Phil Skoglund as skip, looked as if they might have an easy win when they went to a 12-3 lead, but the Australians tightened their play and although New Zealand always led it was a close game. , Moffat, whose play in the middle of the triples during the morning was somewhat erratic, came right in .the' afternoon. It was Skoglund’s . ex* perience that saw the triples through to victory, with the! Manawatu player, scoring a crucial four shots on ( the 16th end after drawing Jill three of his bowls to the J John Murtagh and Kevin Darling would probably rather forget the pairs game which they lost, 13-22. Murtagh was consistently out-drawn by Alf Saundercock and any recovery shots that Darling made were usually driven into the ditch by Snell. The test did have its light-* er side with Moffat- gesture ing to Skoglund about th© “birdie” on his • shoulder after the fours skip had managed a double kiss on ore end for a couple of shots. Later Skoglund announced to the gallery as he got ready to play his bowls: “I think we have got one, Morgan thinks its two, while the Australians thik it”s a measure for one.” The second test starts at 9 a.m. today.