Chch bowlers have bright prospects

Press, 6 February 1982, Page 14

Chch bowlers have bright prospects

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

Christchurch, second last summer to Hawkes Bay, should be in a confident frame of mind when it begins its quest at Greymouth this week-end for the Rothmans inter-centre bowls title. However, it would be courting danger if confidence should give way to complacency. History shows that the zone eliminations are seldom easy and Christchurch, despite advantages in. numbers and reputations, has quite often stumbled at this first hurdle.

In fact, last season it was only a belated run, and help from results from other games, that got Christchurch through to the national final. There will be much interest in how • the Christchurch country team performs in this, its first appearance in the tournament. It would be a surprise if the country team should win the elimination at its first outing, but with players such as Morris Nairn, Leon Jones and Sandy Keith, all of wnom have shown good form recently, to press its challenge it will not be out of its depth.

The other four centres in the zone three (top half of the South Island) elimination are Nelson, Marlborough, Buller and, the host this time, West Coast.

Nelson was unlucky to lose last year and could again be Christchurch’s toughest rival. However, records snow that results seldom follow a pattern from one year to the next and if Christchurch is entitled to favouritism, the other five are pretty much on a par. Christchurch’s chances—and the same applies to all the teams-will depend very much on the singles player,

Neville Poole. The winning team is almost invariably the one which gets the best singles results and this had been Christchurch’s weak spot for years. It remains to be seen whether Poole will do any better than those who have preceded him. He certainly has good credentials with two centre singles titles to his credit and he has been in solid, if not spectacular, form this summer. If Poole can win at least three of his five games then Christchurch should finish on top, as both the pair and the four can confidently be expected to do at least as well—and this would just about ensure victory. The four is particularly strong and could—or, perhaps, should—win all its games. The front half of Peter Meier and Sonny Calder are two of the best in New Zealand in their positions and the skip, Morgan Moffat, is arguably the best. The third, Graham Stanley, is having an excellent season and although they have not played a lot together, Stanley and Moffat have a good understanding and they seem to bring tne best out in each other.

The pair is a new one of Lyn Hanger and Travis Coup (s) and it has a good deal of potential. Hanger is a very steady draw player and Coup has both the ability and the experience to add further gloss to his already solid record in this tournament. Coup served Christchurch most ably as a fours skip for many years, and he, in fact, is a survivor of the last

Christchurch team to win the Rothmans title, some 11 years ago. His time looked to be up when Moffat replaced him three years ago, but he has fought’ his way back into the team with a string of impressive performances, the latest being his victory in the open pairs final last weekend.

Although the absence of Wally Wilkinson is a drawback—and, presumably, there was simply no position for him—this team looks one of the best Christchurch has had for years. Between them, the seven members have won 31 centre titles, making it rich in experience as well. Also being played this week-end, at Blenheim, is the zone four elimination of the national junior inter-centre tournament and here again Christchurch looks a good bet.

It was a runaway winner last year, before finishing third in the national play-off, and the team includes two players of particular promise, Chris Carter, who will contest the singles, and Noel Tomlinson, the tours skip. Carter, still only 17, is undoubtedly one of the best juniors in the country and Tomlinson, on his form this summer, particularly, in getting close to both the open singles and open pairs titles, may not be far behind mm. But strong as the two Christchurch teams look, and their country counterparts cannot be quickly dismissed either, only results can measure their worth. Time, as always, will tell.