Favourites face big challenge

Press, 19 December 1985, Page 30

Favourites face big challenge

Trying to pick winners at national bowls championships is an extremely difficult task. The mere size of the fields is enough to put anyone off.

However, if favourites have to be found they would probably be Peter Beiliss (Aramoho) in the singles, Nick Unkovich (Rawhiti) in the fours and either Danny O’Connor (Okahu Bay) or Ivan Kostanich (Helensville) in the pairs. As the world singles champion, Beiliss carries a big load. He has had a lot of overseas play this year, having not long returned from a trip to South Africa, and in recent weeks he has been kept busy representing the sponsor on the national Countrywide circuit. This has limited his preparation, and while the slower Christchurch greens (at least to those in parts of the North Island) are to his liking Beiliss still has a big task ahead of him. For all his success in bowls, and he has been a top player for nearly 10 years now, Beiliss has won only one national title. That was the singles at Auckland in 1981. He has been close on a number of other occasions, like last year when he was beaten by Unkovich in the fours final.

But, there is no doubt, that these will be the two men that opponents will

fear the most. Unkovich will be a threat in all three championships, but especially so in his specialty event, the fours. His record of seven fours titles, five of them in the last seven years, speaks for itself. He may not have as strong a team as he won with in Christchurch four years ago, but it is a team which he skipped to victory last summer and it should be even better this time.

O’Connor and his lead, Rowan Brassey, will also be tiying to repeat their pairs victory of four years ago. On paper they are probably the strongest combination, with Brassey the country’s top lead. Kostanich has won national titles at both singles and pairs, and by winning the Gold Coast singles last winter he showed that he is as good as ever. This success was achieved on greens much slower than Kostanich favours.

He must be a danger man in the singles, but he is also a very fine pairs skip and leading for him will again be Pat Robertson who was with Kostanich when he won the pairs in Dunedin two years ago. lan Dickison (Kaikorai) would have to be second favourite to Beiliss in the singles. Not only is he defending the title, but for consistency he has probably been New Zealand’s best bowler over the last few years. Brassey, too, must be

highly rated in this championship. Geoff Hawken and Maurice Symes (Hawera Park) will be defending the pairs title they won last summer and Symes has built on this success to be a strong candidate for the New Zealand team to next year’s Edinburgh Commonwealth Games.

Lou Caucian and George Benvenuti, the Naenae combination which Symes narrowly beat in last season’s final, are also lining up again. There will be no shortage of big names, and in New Zealand bowls there is none bigger than Phil Skoglund. Bowls has undergone many changes since Skoglund, at the age of 20, won the first of his eight national titles (the singles) in Christchurch in 1958.

However, he is still a class bowler and the advent of professionalism has given a fresh impetus to his career. His best chance may be in the singles, although partnered by his sons, Philip and Raymond, he could also be around for a long time in the fours. His pairs partner is Raymond. There are many other players whose fortunes will be closely watched. Not the least of them is Brian Trillo, the Aramoho bowler who had such a golden summer last season. He was beaten in two finals at the Auckland Dominion, the singles and the fours, and. he is again playing

No. 3 for Beiliss in the fours.

The veteran, Robbie Robson (Tokora), who won the singles in Christchurch in 1974, the up-and-coming Aucklander, Nick Grgivevich are other visitors who could be around at the business end of any of the three championships. And to this list could be added Bruce Drabble and Dave Emirali (both Manurewa), the never to be under-estimated Paritutu contingent which this time includes John Christie, John Murtagh and Dave Baldwin, Bill Kane (North End, Invercargill), Brian Campi (Hillsboro), Jim Scott (Johnsonville), who won the singles with two lives in Christchurch four years ago before being the beaten pairs finalist, and Ken Gash (Oratia), whose sprints up the green have to be seen to be believed.

Kevin Wing (Palmerston North), is another regular campaigner on the trail again, and a title to him would be especially popular. He has twice been beaten in singles finals, by Kostanich in 1977 and Scott in 1982, as well as being close in other years. The McConnells from Dunedin, especially the brothers, Duncan and Stewart, are younger bowlers who are due for a breakthrough into the winner’s circle, and there will be a good deal of interest in Wayne Nairn, a 30-year-old from Papakura who is re-

garded as one of the best young prospects around. Weight of numbers, along with local knowledge, offers some hope of a Canterbury victory, although it is hard to see' it coming in the singles. Ken Watson (Linwood) and Graham Stanley (South Brighton) are possibily the best chances in this event. Watson has been playing well, but Stanley’s form has been mixed, as has that of another player, Bruce McNish (Spreydon), with the ability to extend the top visitors.

Watson could also pop up in the pairs, but his best chance may lie in the fours where in Glen Miller, Sonny Calder and Roy Bailey he has a team which has proven itself before at this level.

Watson and Calder were with Morgan Moffat when he won the fours in Christchurch in 1978. Moffat is now a member at South Brighton and his team of Gavin Good, Warren Fitchett and Peter Meier rates something of a chance, even though it is a new combination.

The four, though, that Canterbury may have to rely on is the country combination of Bob Patterson, Sandy Keith, Leon Jones and Morris Nairn (s).

With Colin Lowery playing in Keith’s place, this team was beaten by Unkovich in the 1982 final, and two years earlier it finished third in Dunedin. Between

times Patterson and Jones finished second in the pairs at Wellington and last year Naim, with the same team as he has this time, reached the quarter-finals at Auckland. It is a remarkable record for a team which was not too happy with a “rustics” label once given it. The members have certainly proved that they are 'no poor relations to their town cousins when it comes to top-level bowls.

One of the beauties of a Dominion bowls tournament is its uncertainties. Invariably unknowns have a moment of glory when they beat one of the top players, and such a result can have lasting effects. There is a Christchurch bowler, one who has never risen to great heights, who still gets introduced in his club as the man who beat Phil Skoglund in the opening round of the singles in 1982. It matters little that this particular man lasted only two more rounds, and Skoglund went on to finish third. He had his big moment, and around two-thirds of the field will be chasing theirs in the next month.

If any should reach, or get close, to a final then so much the better, but despite the element of luck which is always a key ingredient in bowls quality almost invariably wins out. In additign to skill the winners will also have to be well endowed with stamina. The very nature of the tournament, along with the time of the year that it is played, makes heavy demands on fitness. Some players are likely to be on the green every day for two weeks, and at up to 10 hours a day it is, indeed, a stayers’ test.