Players vying for places in last eight

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 30

Players vying for places in last eight

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

Along with the temperature, which exceeded 30 degrees, the competition hotted up on the fourth day yesterday of the Countrywide International Classic bowls tournament at Burnside.

The defeat of a number of previously unbeaten players has opened up the sections and there are now at least four in each with prospects of qualifying for the quar-ter-finals on Sunday morning. There are four sections, and the top two from each will contest the quarterfinals, at which point the battle will begin in,earnest for the winner’s cheque of $lO,OOO. The Aramoho club-mates, Peter Beiliss and Brian Trillo, share the lead in section one. Both have had four wins from five games, with Rowan Brassey (Auckland), three from four, and Roy Bailey (Christchurch), three from five, their closest rivals. • Kevin Darling (Dunedin) and Ivan Kostanich (Auckland) are the front-runners in section two. They have both won four of their five games, but hot on their tail is Phil Skoglund (Manawatu), who is unbeaten in three games. Joe Amos (New South Wales) was beaten for the first time yesterday, but he still leads section three with four wins. Sid Giddy (Bay of Plenty) also had a perfect record in this section at the start of play yesterday, but he was beaten twice and is now on a par with GordonDuggie (Dunedin) and Kevin Wing (Manawatu) as threegame winners from five games. Rob Parrella (Queensland), who had a free day yesterday, is a clear leader of section four. He has won all his five games, and the battle for second place looks likely to be between the three Christchurch players, Graham Stanley, three wins from four games, and Morgan Moffat and Ken Watson, both three from five. Of the trio, Stanley is the only one who has yet to play Parrella and their game will be today, at 1.30 p.m. It was section three which provided most of the excitement yesterday. Jim Scott (Wellington), who had little joy through the first

three days, made his presence felt when he pipped Giddy in a tight finish and two hours later Giddy was on the receiving end again, Wing playing exceptionally well in the by then windy conditions to beat him in another three-setter. John Murtagh (Taranaki) struck a blow for those in pursuit of Amos when he gave his best display so far to beat the demure Australian in straight sets. Murtagh might have done himself some good as well, aS he now has two wins from four games and is not out of contention either. This game, too, started after the wind sprung up, and it seemed to rattle Amos, who suffered badly through short bowls. And for the spectators who stuck it out until the finish there was a game to savour, especially if Nick Unkovich is correct in his recently-published assessment that 80 per cent of any crowd likes to see him get beaten. It was Duggie, a littleknown player from the Port Chalmers club in Dunedin, who turned Unkovich over and as this was his third defeat of the tournament there is little chance of Unkovich picking up any of the big money. Duggie drew and drove superbly to keep the pressure on Unkovich throughout and he won the game with a flourish when he drew to within a metre of a jack that Unkovich had fired into the ditch. Duggie’s expression was hard to read behind his thick beard, but he was a happy man afterwards. “That would have to be the best win of my career,” he said. Skoglund dropped only five points in winning his two games yesterday and his section (section two) will, no doubt, revolve around his games tomorrow against Kostanich and Darling. Kostanich had two good wins yesterday, but Darling is still struggling to find his best form and he was well beaten by John Mears (Marlborough). However,

Mears could not produce the same form against Maurice Symes (Taranaki) later in the day and the loss he suffered here now makes it very difficult for him to qualify. Stanley, the man who came into the tournament at the eleventh hour to replace lan Dickison, had an important win for him when he beat his South Brighton fours skip, Morgan Moffat, in straight sets. Stanley, thanks mainly to the accuracy of his drive, narrowly won a very long first set, but he took the second convincingly once Moffat started to spray his drives. Brassey, who must have kicked himself all Wednesday night for the game he let slip to Bailey, made no such mistakes yesterday. He started a little slowly in both his games, but was very assured in the closing stages and his win over Trillo was the product of some very tidy bowling. Results:— Section one.— B. Trillo (Wanganui) beat R. Bailey (Christchurch), 7-4, 7-4; R. Brassey (Auckland), beat J. Leitch (Wellington), 3-7, 7-5, 72; S. Kennedy (Waikato) beat P. Lawson (Tasmania), 7-3, 6-7, 7-4; P. Beiliss (Wanganui) beat S. Patton (Fiji), 7-0, 7-4; Beiliss beat Kennedy, 7-1, 4-7. 7-4; Bailey beat Patton, 0-7, 7-4, 71; Brassey beat Trillo, 2-7, 7-6, 7-2. Section two.— P. Skoglund (Manawatu) beat M. Symes (Taranaki) 7-0, 7-1; I. Kostanich (Auckland) beat B. Gibson (Southland), 7-5, 3-7, 7-5; M. Pratt (Waikato) beat P. Fong (Fiji), 5-7, 7-5, 7-6; J. Mears beat K. Darling (Dunedin) 7-5, 7-2; Kostanich beat Fong, 7-5, 7-3; Symes beat Mears, 2-7, 7-6, 7-5; Darling beat Gibson, 7-2, 72; Skoglund beat Pratt, 7-0, 7-4. Section three.— J. Scott (Wellington) beat S. Giddy (Bay of Plenty), 7-3, 0-7, 7-6; J. Murtagh (Taranaki) beat J. Amos (New South Wales), 7-4, 7-6; K. Wing (Manawatu) beat Giddy, 7-3, 5-7, 7-3; G. Duggie (Dunedin), beat N. Unkovich (Auckland), 7-5, 7-3. Section four.— G. Stanley (Christchurch) beat M. Moffat (Christchurch) 7-6, 7-4; H. Walker (Wellington) beat D. Stewart (Counties), 7-1, 7-3; K. Watson (Christchurch) beat O. Dallah (Hong Kong), 5-7, 7-0, 70.