Top bowlers bow out

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 4

Top bowlers bow out

PA Dunedin Two of the great names of women’s bowls, Elsie Wilkie (Matamata) and Jean Ryan (Onehunga), bowed out of the 1985 Bell tea national four championships yesterday. Wilkie, a former world champion, went down, 17-26, to Stella Smith (Pohara, Golden Bay) and Ryan, the fours champion for the last two years, lost to Ally Pockson (Caledonian), 17-23. Smith’s Pohara team of Colleen Geary, Marje Wilson, and Joyce Halkett was playing together for the first time in a major event. Pohara, with only 12 women players, is attached to the local cement works in Golden Bay. The club was playing in the national championships for the first time. Pohara reached the last 16

when it beat Doris Marshall (Forbury Park), 19-16, in the next round. The Caledonian team of May Buttar, Martha McEwan, Marj Leishman, and Pockson surprised Ryan’s strong Onehunga combination. However, she was unable to sustain her effort and was eliminated in the next round, 27-10, by Nora Campi, from Kamo, Northland, a former national winner, Campi suffered the same fate in the final round of the day when beaten, 19-18, by Muriel Allison (Georgetown, Invercargill). Linwood, of Christchurch, was in a strong position to stake its claim for the title with four of its five teams still in contention. The unbeaten skips are Lexie Kimber, Denise Page, Ag Beazley and Bryonny Immers.