Last Saturday, our men’s team which had qualified fourth, played in the final of this season’s Interclub. I was not able to be there so my thanks go again to Ken Hayward, our men’s selector and member of our interclub team, for doing a report on the days play for us.
“Our men’s Super 7s team headed off to Paraparaumu Beach on Saturday morning determined to put up a good showing in the playoffs. We were met by very unfriendly conditions – a very strong nor-wester raking the greens and the locals talking about an earthquake centred 6 kms from Paraparaumu which had happened in the early hours. It was hard to get a handle on our early progress as the draw was staggered so that the results were in doubt for a good deal of the day.
In the first round Jim Bentley played Reg Goston from Raumati South in the singles. After being behind early Jim eventually got in front and won 25-22 in a very tight game. Ken Hayward and Grant Pratt played the Paraparaumu pair of Rex Holmes and Alan Bradbury. To say things did not go according to plan was quite an understatement as Bradbury drew shot after shot to the jack and Holmes added more to the tally, and to Levin’s misery. It was a bit of a relief when the end came and we had lost by 8 – 38. (Incidentally the well-performed Raumati South pair of Phil Edwards and Gil Lowry took an even worse pounding from Holmes on the next rink to us in the second game. They stopped putting the score on the board at 44 – 6 with a few ends to go.) Over on green 1 Neville Turnbull’s four was in their game against Phil Harris’s Central four for the whole game going down 13-16. Lunch after the first game was a welcome respite from the wind and we vowed to do better in the second game.
Jim Bentley played Ray Boffa in the second singles game. Ray was too good pulling away to win 25 – 14. Hayward and Pratt hung close to the Central pair of Woolston and Madden but went down by 4 pts in a close result and our fours team could not stay with Raumati South losing 14-24.
Thus, by the start of the final round Levin were trailing the field and Paraparaumu and Raumati were fighting out the top placings. All our games were called off early when it became clear that Paraparaumu had taken the trophy but for the record Jim Bentley and Peter Petherick called it a draw at 18-all, our pairs went down to Raumati 18-23 and fours won 13-11 over Paraparaumu. It was now after 5 pm and we gratefully packed away our bowls and headed north for a beer at our own clubrooms pleased with making the top four but knowing that we could have performed to a higher standard on the day, even allowing for the difficult conditions.
Incidentally, probably for the first time, Paraparaumu Beach took out both the men’s and both the women’s trophies so it was a great day for their club to achieve that on their home turf.
Levin’s Results:
Round 1: Singles: Levin 25 Raumati South 22
Pairs: Levin 8 Paraparaumu Beach 38
Fours: Levin 13 Central 16
Round 2: Singles: Levin 14 Para Beach 25
Pairs: Levin 15 Central 20
Fours: Levin 14 Raumati 25
Round 3: Singles: Levin 18 Central 18
Pairs: Levin 18 Raumati 23
Fours: Levin 13 Para Bch 11
Overall points:
Paraparaumu Beach 54 pts 1st Raumati South 2nd Central 3rd Levin 4th 22 Pts.
