McNish triumphs

Press, 19 December 1988, Page 25

McNish triumphs

Since returning from the Emerging Players’ tour of the North Island the week before last, the Spreydon bowler, Bruce McNish has been going from strength to strength and yesterday was a milestone in his advances, when he won the Canterbury Bowling Centre’s open singles. McNish beat the Burnside bowler, Lyn Hanger, 22-16, in the final to obtain his first centre title. His win was all the more meritorious because he was against a doughty opponent who has been in four finals, of which he has won one. It was significant not only that McNish won 11 ends to Hanger’s nine, but also that he scored a four, two threes and three twos. Other than eight ones Hanger could manage only a lone two midway through the match. Nevertheless it was a tight match, after Hanger took an early lead, with McNish advancing to a 10-4 lead by the

ninth end. Hanger levelled the scores on the sixteenth end and went ahead to 13 on the eighteenth. McNish went ahead and a four on the twenty-third end gave him a handy advantage. Finally, at 20-16 on the twenty-sixth end, McNish added two to pass the required 21 shots. It was always a tight match and in contrast to some of the earlier last eight matches which featured wide margins. McNish beat Papanui’s Brian McGowan, 21-12 first up and then Bill Fiecken (Beckenham), 21-6. Hanger had a close call against Roger Norton (Spreydon), 21-20, but then dispatched Gavin Waghorn (Redcliffs) summarily, 21-6. In last eight deciding matches for the semi-finals, Fiecken beat Bob Rickard (Papanui), 21-13, while Waghorn beat lan Cross (Kaiapoi) 21-12.