Bowls tests planned

Press, 14 June 1984, Page 8

Bowls tests planned

PA Auckland Scotland will play tests on three successive days against New Zealand in November, the Bowling Council said yesterday. The tests will be played at a South Island venue yet to be decided.

In a break with tradition, names of the four players in each team will go into a hat and be drawn to play singles. There will be four games of singles and two of pairs on each day. No triples or fours will be played.

An international classic tournament to be held from February 4 will carry the biggest purse yet offered in the sport. Thirty-two top bowlers will compete for $50,000 in prizemoney. The venue has to be decided.

Winners of a series of 12 satellite tournaments, to be

held from September this year, will gain automatic entry to the classic. The remaining 20 places in the draw will go to the top 10 New Zealanders and 10 overseas players including, it is hoped, bowlers from Hong Kong who will have been in Australia for the inaugural Australian Games. With an eye to the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games and the rule that only amateurs will be eligible, the annual North Island v. South Island fixture will be confined to players who decline prizemoney. The annual champion of champions singles, contested by the winners of each centre's championship, will no longer be a straight knockout. It had been planned to play four sections of six with the section winners going to the semifinals.