Spreydon goes down

Press, 20 November 1989, Page 29

Spreydon goes down

Sydenham did more than just ruffle the feathers of last year’s champions, Spreydon, in the Canterbury Bowling Centre’s Robbie Burns Super Sevens competition when the two unbeaten teams met in the fourth round on Saturday. Certainly, both teams were without a top player, as Sydenham took Spreydon down 2-1, but the result reflected the urgency and commitment of each on the day. Only one of the matches was won by a decisive margin, with the other two being nailbiters, to the end. Spreydon were without Bruce McNish, who was last year such a decisive factor in his team’s excellent season. Sydenham lacked Gary Lawson, who was equally as important to his team. Both players were in Auckland in the run-up to the Postbank Superbowls finals. In their absence, the team mates fought a classic, tight match, wifi two of the games going right to the last few bowls. Only in the fours was there no contest, with Ray Hunt’s Spreydon four being unable to match Sydenham’s Bob Blackburn’s four, which won, 21-11. However, the pairs and ‘/singles were diffe«t pro-

positions. Peter Collins’ Sydenham pair made it two wins, when it bested Noel Tomlinson’s duo, 22-21. On tbe last end, Tomlinson held shot, only to have Collins take it when there was no chance of reply. The singles match, between Terry Darby and Stan Lawson outlasted the other two matches, with each player unwilling to concede anything. Finally, Darby was able to outlast Lawson to take the game 31-29. In the other section, Papanui, which also had a three win-no loss record, was pushed to the limit, after losing its pairs game against Fendalton. After Graham Fyall gave Fendalton a flying start with a 23-16 win in the pairs over Brian McGowan, the match was in the balance.

Leon Jones levelled the game score, winning the singles over Fendalton’s Pat Botica, 32-27 and it was then up to the result between the fours of Brian Barker, Papanui's national fours champion and John Pugh. In another classic finish, Barker took the game, 23-22. Results (names of winning teams’ players first).—. Section one: Papijbii 2, Fendalton 1 (singles, |J f Jones

32, P. Botica 27; pairs, B. McGowan 16, G. Fyall 23; fours, B. Barker 23, J. Pugh 22): Elmwood 3, Burwood 0 (singles, J. Morton 31, A. Hawes 25; pairs, C. Summers 32, R. Skerten 11; fours, P. Maples 23, J. McAllister 21); Beckenham 2, Burnside 1, (singles, C. Laing 22, S. Buttar 31; pairs, W. Fiecken 29, R. Howman 14; fours, B. Chapman 17, W. Cosgriff 16); Woolston W.M.C. 3, Woolston Park 0 (singles, M. Jones 31, S. Godfrey 10; pairs, C. Palmer 26, R. Fridd 17; fours, T. Thomas 24, R. Bodger 18). Section two: Redcliffs 3, Riccarton Racecourse 0 (singles, D. McFarlane 31, G. Toneycliffe 20; pairs, L. Schafer 41, H. McMath 20; fours, E. Tomlinson 25, J. Martin 16); Canterbury 3, Christchurch Richmond 0 (Singles, S. Prendergast 31, L. Whinnray 18; pairs, P. Joyce 28, P. Newman 21; fours, H. Fletcher 33, T. Kennedy 7); Sydenham 2, Spreydon 1 (singles, S. Lawson 29, T. Darby 31; pairs, P. Collins 22, N. Tomlinson 21; fours, R. Blackbum 21, R. Hunt 11); Kaiapoi 2, Linwood 1 (singles, C. Bullock 31, K. Watson 21; pairs, A. Griffin 25, A. Curtain 24; fours, G. Archer 23, I. Kamo 25). :