Alistair McMurran

So close. It was almost a golden homecoming for the Munro family at the New Zealand bowls championships in Dunedin.

It was a winner again.

Helen emerged as the queen of the New Zealand bowls championships and Ben as the top coach.

Former international airline pilot Bruce Crosbie has a less stressful job these days.

The indoor rink suited the Taieri Plains team as it raced to the final of the women's fours yesterday.

It is tough at the top. Three of the best were toppled at the New Zealand championships in Dunedin yesterday.

Carolyn Crawford owes a debt to world champion Jo Edwards for helping the St Clair bowler win her first New Zealand title.

Tony Grantham can pack his bags for Glasgow. His brilliant play in the pairs gave Birkenhead a last-gasp win and confirmed his spot in the Commonwealth Games team.

Carolyn Crawford and Ann Muir achieved mission impossible when they won the women's pairs title on Saturday.

Tasmania was the 200th country or territory on the Travellers Century Club list for sports writer Alistair McMurran when he landed in Hobart this year.

A last-bowl miracle shot gave Black Jack Ali Forsyth (Havelock) his sixth New Zealand bowls title at Dunedin yesterday.

Ann Muir said a short prayer and her miracle last bowl took her into the pairs final at the New Zealand bowls championships.

Like father like son. Ken Harris fills the same umpire's spot at the Leith club occupied by his father in the past.

Jo Edwards is an expatriate Englishwoman who has taken New Zealand women's bowls to the top of the world rankings.

Eighteen-year-old Brooke Craik will be playing against her grandmother in the fours at the New Zealand bowls championships on Sunday.

Giant-killers Mitchell Will and Andy McLean pushed two members of the Black Jacks squad out of the pairs yesterday.