Fraser, Luke on top in indoor bowls

Press, 30 March 1989, Page 19

Fraser, Luke on top in indoor bowls

Murray Fraser (Garden City) and Jack Luke (Blenheim) shared the honours in the four-day Easter tournament of the Canterbury Indoor Bowls Association.

Fraser, who entered only two events, won the four-bowl pairs and was runner-up in the singles, while Luke, playing in all four events, won the fours and was runner-up in the three-bowl pairs.

Jack Luke’s Blenheim team of Phyllis Poole, Marion and Derek Thomas beat Maurice Berkeley's Linwood Avenue combination (Paul Berkeley, Dee King, and Tony King) 1510 in a see-saw final. Berkeley, upset by the umpire’s measuring on the vital eleventh end, lodged a protest at the end of the game. The protest was made as a matter of principle and will not affect the final result.

The father and son combination of Murray and Ricky Fraser beat the master bowler, Alf Williamson, and Maria Austin 9-8 in a final which produced excellent bowls from all four players. Williamson and M. Fraser had paired up to win the event last year. As opponents this time, the two top tacticians treated spectators to 90 min battle of wits, with each

skip keenly aware of the other’s strengths. Ricky Fraser, working in Nelson this year and short of match practice, returned to the form which enabled him to reach the semi-finals in last year's national singles. In the three-bowl pairs, the amiable Andrew Little, a former Canterbury singles titleholder, teamed up with a national representative nominee, Byrony Immers (Garden City) to easily beat Jack Luke and Phyllis Poole, 14-6, in the final. Immers and Little had narrowly disposed of another Blenheim pairing of Derek and Marion Thomas, 6-5, in their semi-final while Luke had an equally narrow victory over Trevor Thompson 11-10 in his semi-final.

Three-bowl pairs.— Quar-ter-finals: J. Luke 8, M. Berkeley 7; D. Thomas 7,.E. Borland 6; B. Immers 8, M. Gibbs 7; T. Thompson 6, P. Berkeley 4. Semi-finals: Immers 6, Thomas 5; Luke 11, Thompson 10. Final: Immers 14, Luke 6. Four-bowl pairs.— Quarterfinals: A. Williamson 7, M. Lapthorn 6; M. Berkeley 7, N. Mitchell 6; K. Carter 7, J. Luke 6; M. Fraser 7, E. Ashby 5. Semi-finals: Williamson 10, Berkeley 0; Fraser 8, Carter

7. .Final: M. Fraser 9, A. Williamson 8.

Fours.— Semi-finals: M. Berkeley 6, L. Hawes 5; J. Luke 7, W. McCreanor 4. Final: J. Luke 15, M. Berkeley 10.

The Workingmen’s Clubs' inaugural South Island championships, also held over Easter week-end, was dominated by the Richmond Workingmen’s Club, with Lloyd Bellis winning both singles and pairs. Bellis beat Owen Ditfort, 12-3, in the singles final, and with his lead, Graham Peters, scored a 10-5 victory over Doug Hoy and Warren Myall in the pairs. Owen Ditfort, with his brother Stephen and David Philpott, outplayed the Timaru combination of D. Mealings, P. Skene, and M. Hight to win the triples final, 10-2.

The fours final produced a minor upset when Paul Nicholson (Richmond W.M.C.) with his teammates, Murray Brownie, Bill Flett, and Graham Peters, defeated the strong Hornby combination of Leon McLennan, Noel Tomlinson, Allan Clark, and Grant Lange, 7-5. The championships will be held in ' Christchurch again next year.