Bowls: Five teens chasing four spots

Five bowlers but only four spots. Two sets of brothers are vying for a place in the zone 6 team for the Kittyhawk national finals when the Dunedin event is held next month.

The St Kilda club has 20 junior bowlers and five of them are teenagers and eligible to contest the Kittyhawk regional finals on February 6.

The Kittyhawk organisation was formed in Auckland in 1976 to encourage teenage bowlers and raise money for charity.

The Dunedin branch was formed in 1996 and it has organised an annual tournament in Dunedin and has raised $60,000 for local charities.

Last year it raised $7,600 for Camp Quality.

The Dunedin branch will send four males and two females to Auckland for the national finals in April.

The national final was won last year by Sam Morton (Mount Pleasant, Timaru), who has automatic entry into this year's national final.

Morton has entered for the Dunedin event which has attracted 34 entries.

The five teenage bowlers have made a big impact on the St Kilda club this season and are regulars in the club teams for the elite Saturday morning interclub competition.

It is the first full season of bowls for the Bishop brothers - James (15), Greg (16) and Tom (19) - but two of them have already established themselves on the national scene.

James and Greg won a bronze medal in the pairs at the national secondary schools championships in Auckland last month.

The 15-year-old Mason twins, Elliott and Oliver, who are in their second season of bowls, have been taught the tactics of the game by former New Zealand representative Duncan McConnell at Otago Boys High School.

The five young bowlers helped with the levelling work on the St Kilda green during the winter months.

They will become officials when the New Zealand Masters Games bowls is held at the St Kilda green next week.

Mornington is the headquarters green for the Kittyhawk competition and play will also be held at Green Island and Kaikorai.

Lanah Craik (Waitaki Girls), who was runner-up in the girls singles at the national secondary schools championships, is certain to be one of the two zone six girls travelling to Auckland.

Former international Paul Girdler (Wakari) returned to his best form at the Stu Buttar Memorial pairs at the Burnside green in Christchurch last weekend.

Girdler and Sean O'Neill (Timaru) beat the Australian under-25 representatives Mathew Pieterson and Sean Baker 17-16 in the final.

Dunedin's Ken Walker (Fairfield) played with Kevin Robinson (Waikato) and the pair finished third-equal.

The plate event was won by Nick Buttar and Bruce McNish (Christchurch) with Andrew Kelly (Canterbury) and Mark Watt (North East Valley) runner-up.

Shaun Scott (North East Valley) will be attempting to win his seventh Bowls Dunedin title when he meets Mark Cowan (Fairfield) in the final of the open singles at Fairfield at 4pm on Friday afternoon.

Cowan has won 12 centre titles.